Economy in Brief: April 2015

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 2.3% last week (28.6% y/y) and made up the prior week's decline. Purchase applications jumped 5.0% (15.6% y/y) to the highest level since [...]

The ZEW expectations index was set back unexpectedly in April as it backtracked to 53.3 from March's 54.8. But at the same time the current index moved sharply higher. The one month rise in the current index is the fifth largest one- [...]

Gasoline prices increased last week to an average $2.49 cents per gallon. Prices were at their highest level since the middle of December, but remained down by roughly one-third versus a year ago. Haver Analytics constructs factors [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) during March fell to -0.42 from -0.18, revised from -0.11. It was the weakest reading since January of last year. The three-month moving average remained [...]

Germany's PPI rose by 0.1% in March, still dropping by 1.7% year-over-year. The chart shows that the year-over-year drop is slightly less than it was a month ago and that the downward progression in the PPI trend may be abating. This [...]

The Index of Leading Economic Indicators from the Conference Board increased 0.2% during March (5.2% y/y) following a 0.1% rise, revised from 0.2%. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The increase [...]

Prices recently gained upward momentum. The consumer price index increased 0.2% (-0.1% y/y) in March and February following declines in the prior three months. Last month's rise matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The EMU-wide harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) fell again in March, marking the fourth consecutive month in which the price index has fallen. Looking at the earliest EMU members that have reported data (in the table below), [...]