Economy in Brief: December 2019

Both business and consumer confidence made moves higher in Italy in December to send the year out on a more hopeful note. Both series are embroiled in declining phases going back to late-2017 or early-2018. Business confidence has [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that its index of regional manufacturing business activity moved further below zero in December where it has been for the past six months, indicating further deterioration in [...]

Estimated real growth in the economy during Q3'19 was unrevised in the third estimate at 2.1% (2.1% y/y) and remained better than the advance estimate of 1.9%. The figure was as expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Growth [...]

The U.S. current account deficit narrowed to $128.2 billion during Q2'19 from an upwardly-revised $136.2 bil. during Q1'19 Balance of Payments data are in Haver's USINT database, with summaries available in USECON. The expectations [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators remained unchanged (+0.1% y/y) during November. This came after October's 0.2% decline, revised from -0.1%, and an unrevised 0.2% shortfall in September. The index [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes during November fell 1.7% (+2.7% y/y) to 5.350 million (SAAR) after rising to 5.440 million in October, revised from 5.460 million. It was the lowest [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 18,000 in the week ended December 14 to 234,000 (+6.4% y/y) from the prior week's 252,000, which was unrevised. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a somewhat larger [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 18,000 in the week ended December 14 to 234,000 (+6.4% y/y) from the prior week’s 252,000, which was unrevised. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected a somewhat larger [...]