Economy in Brief: June 2018

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices nudged 0.1% higher (6.4% y/y) during April after a 0.2% March rise, revised from 0.1%. Over the past three months, prices have risen at a 4.7% annual rate, down [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes fell 0.4% (-3.0% y/y) during May to 5.430 million units (AR) following a 2.7% April decline to 5.450 million units, revised from 5.460 million. It was the [...]

Germany has a history of being ‘unreasonable’ about inflation. In the interwar period with the development of hyper-inflation, Germans developed a strong aversion to even a whiff of inflation. So Germany, nationally and down to [...]

The U.S. current account deficit rose to $124.1 billion during Q1 2018 from $116.1 billion in Q4 2017. It was the largest deficit since Q4 2008. The Q1 deficit compared to $129.0 billion expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Retail gasoline prices slipped to $2.88 per gallon last week (+24.2% y/y) from $2.91 per gallon during the prior week. Prices stood at the lowest level in five weeks. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal [...]

Total housing starts rose 5.0% (20.3% y/y) during May to 1.350 million units (SAAR) from 1.286 million in April, revised from 1.287 million. It was the highest level of starts since July 2007. A level of 1.305 million starts had been [...]

In May, Japan has logged its second trade deficit in 13 months and only its third in the last 28 months. Technically, the deficit was generated by a 1% drop in exports combined with a 10.6% surge in imports. The yen has been gradually [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo fell 2.9% (+3.0% y/y) to 68 during June and retraced its May increase to 70. The latest reading compared to expectations for 70 in the [...]