Economy in Brief: March 2014

It is as though central banks have gone through the looking glass. In the days of yore, we had central banks such as the Federal Reserve in the United States headed by Paul Volker and the Bundesbank in Germany headed by just about [...]

The four-week moving average of initial claims for unemployment insurance declined to 327,000, the lowest level since late-November. On a weekly basis, initial claims increased to 320,000 during the week ended March 15 from an [...]

Last quarter's deficit on merchandise trade shrank to $171.8 billion, its least in three years.

Last quarter's deficit on merchandise trade shrank to $171.8 billion, its least in three years.

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed reduced the amount of its asset purchases of agency mortgage-backed and longer-term Treasury securities to $55 billion per month from $65 billion per month. It sighted [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association indicated that their total mortgage market index fell 1.2% last week (-51.8% y/y). Applications remained 63.3% lower than the peak in September 2012. Applications to purchase a home slipped 0.9% [...]

Japan's sector indices continue to turn higher in January. After a setback in December, the January all-industry index for Japan is moving back up. The level in January 2014 is above the level of November 2013, making the January [...]

The U.S. current account deficit decreased in Q4'13 to $81.1 billion from $96.4 billion in Q3. It was the smallest quarterly deficit since Q3 1999. It represented 1.9% of GDP, the least since Q3 1997. The Action Economics Forecast [...]