Economy in Brief: February 2017

Housing starts during January declined 2.6% to 1.246 million (AR) from 1.279 million in December, revised from 1.226 million. Expectations had been for 1.215 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Starts of single- [...]

A surplus bigger than a bread box...bigger than the bread factory The EMU trade surplus swung to an even wider surplus in December, its widest in eight month and the second widest on record. Exports and import are swinging up as both [...]

Business sales jumped 2.0% m/m (5.2% y/y) in December. This was the largest monthly increase since March 2011 and the largest yearly increase since May 2012. All three major categories (retail, wholesale and manufacturing) posted [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo fell 3.0% to 65 during February (+12.1% y/y) following an unrevised decline to 67 in January. The NAHB figures are seasonally adjusted. [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions for February jumped to 18.7 from 6.5 in January. It was the highest level since September 2014. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 7.0. These data, [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants increased 0.4% (4.9% y/y) in January following a 1.0% December rise, which was revised from 0.6%. A more modest 0.1% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

Industrial production decreased 0.3% m/m (+0.1% y/y) in January following a downwardly revised 0.6% m/m increase in December. The consensus from the Action Economics Survey had looked for an unchanged reading for total production. In [...]

The Consumer Price Index jumped 0.6% during January following a 0.3% December gain. It was the strongest rise since February 2013 and lifted y/y growth to 2.5%. Expectations had been for a 0.3% gain in the Action Economic Forecast [...]