Economy in Brief: November 2014

The EMU current account surplus rose to 30 billion euros in September form 22.8 billion euros in August. The EMU trade surplus increased. The balance on services trade moved to a larger surplus and the income account's surplus was [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 4.9% last week (-13.3% y/y) to the highest level since the middle of last month. Applications to purchase a home jumped 11.7% (-6.7% [...]

Housing starts during October fell 2.8% (+7.7% y/y) to 1.009 million (AR) from 1.038 million in September, revised from 1.017 million. The latest level fell short of expectations for 1.028 million starts in the Action Economics [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline last week revisited the lowest level since November 2010. The $2.89 cost (-10.1% y/y) was down from $2.94 during the prior week. To account for seasonal patterns, Haver Analytics constructs [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo recovered to 58 this month (7.4% y/y) after an unrevised decline to 54 in October. The figure beat expectations for 55 in the Informa Global [...]

The overall Final Demand Producer Price Index gained 0.2% during October (1.5% y/y) following an unrevised 0.1% dip in September. A 0.1% decline was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Prices excluding food & energy [...]

Germany's ZEW index for November saw its expectations component rise to 11.5 from -3.6 in October. The current index remained at a low level of 3.3, barely higher than a 3.2 reading for October. Since the previous ZEW release, Germany [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions recovered to 10.16 during November following a sharp decline to an unrevised 6.17 in October. Despite the upturn, the [...]