Economy in Brief: October 2011

Sales flounder and appearing to swim - The UK saw retail sales rebound sharply in September rising by 0.8% month-to-month after a flat performance in August. The spurt is welcome relief to a still staggered economy. But there is less [...]

For the second consecutive month, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's index of regional factory sector improved. The October General Activity index rose to 8.7 from an unrevised -17.5 in September. The figure easily beat Consensus [...]

The Conference Board reported that its Leading Economic Indicators index rose 0.2% during September following an unrevised 0.3% August increase. The gain matched the Consensus forecast. The 1-month diffusion index improved to a still- [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance fell to 403,000 last week versus 409,000 a week earlier (revised from 404,000). The latest figure compared to 400,000 as expected in the Action Economics survey. The 4-week moving average of claims [...]

A surge in starts of multi-family units was the impetus behind a 15.0% m/m surge in housing starts last month. The level of starts overall was 658,000 (AR), the highest since April of last year. Expectations were for 590,000 units. [...]

The Belgian National Bank consumer confidence index has edged up in October and at a time that other measures in surrounding countries seem to be getting weaker. After operating without a real government for an extended period of time [...]

The index of total mortgage applications fell a sharp 14.9% fast week to 633.1 (March 16, 1990 = 100), the lowest level since early-last month. Nevertheless, applications have risen by more-than-one half since their early-year low. [...]

The overall CPI gained an expected 0.3% during September following a 0.4% August rise. The y/y increase of 3.9% was the strongest since September, 2008. Higher food & energy prices bloated the monthly increase; thus the rise in the [...]