Economy in Brief: June 2012

Existing home sales surged 4.2% in May, producing a substantial 12.9% gain y/y to a 5.180M annual rate, according to data compiled by the National Association of Realtors. This was the largest number of sales since the 5.440M of [...]

As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee today left the Federal funds rate in a "range from 0 to 1/4 percent." The Fed funds rate has remained unchanged since late-2008 at its lowest level ever. The discount rate also was left [...]

While there seems to be more anxiety about the Euro-Area it is far from clear what is going on. Orders trends for Italy and France are undergoing a major divergence. Orders for Italy in April are falling and are lower over three [...]

Mass layoffs in the U.S. during May fell slightly following a sharp April increase. The Labor Department reported this morning that layoffs of 50 or more persons from a single firm slipped a seasonally adjusted 0.6% to 1,380 following [...]

Consumers showed a further disinclination to spend freely last week. Chain store sales were essentially unchanged w/w (3.6% y/y) and remained at the lowest level in two months. Sales in June are 3.9% below the high April average. [...]

The 274 German financial analysts and institutional investors who participated in the ZEW survey that took place during the period from May 29 to June 18 greatly reduced their expectations of German macroeconomic conditions in the six [...]

The rate of labor market improvement eased during April. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the rate of 2.5% was down from the March high of 2.7%. Nevertheless, the latest [...]

Last week, the pump price of regular gasoline declined another four cents to $3.53 per gallon. Since early April prices have fallen forty one cents (-10.4%) and they've retraced nearly three-quarters of the run-up early this year. [...]