Economy in Brief: May 2005

The old adage of real estate about location has never been more true than during the last several years. During the last three years the Nat'l Association of Realtors reports the median sales price of an existing single family home [...]

GDP growth in France slowed markedly in Q1 to 0.2% from 0.7% in Q4 2004. A smaller gain in household consumption and an outright decline in exports were responsible for the sluggish Q1 performance. Notably, however, fixed capital [...]

The May Index of General Business Conditions in the manufacturing sector from the Philadelphia Fed reversed all of the prior month's improvement and fell 18.0 points to 7.3, its lowest level since June 2003. Consensus expectations had [...]

The May Index of General Business Conditions in the manufacturing sector from the Philadelphia Fed reversed all of the prior month's improvement and fell 18.0 points to 7.3, its lowest level since June 2003. Consensus expectations had [...]

Employment conditions in several countries are showing some improvement. After about three years of decline or sluggishness, uptrends are developing in the number of people employed. This is evident in Germany, where seasonally [...]

Following three weeks of increase, initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 20,000 last week to 321,000 and the prior period's gain was little revised. Consensus expectations had been for 330,000 claims. The latest figure covers [...]

In April the National Activity Index (CFNAI) compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago improved to 0.10 from a downwardly revised -0.04 in March. The figures left the three-month moving average of the CFNAI at 0.08, its lowest [...]

The Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators reported by the Conference Board fell for the fourth straight month in April. The 0.2% decline followed a downwardly revised 0.6% drop in March. Six-month growth in the leaders fell [...]