Economy in Brief: July 2012

Sales of existing homes fell 5.4% last month to a 4.370 annual rate (4.5% y/y) from an upwardly revised 4.620M during May. Sales of existing single-family homes alone fell 5.1% to 3.900M, up 4.8% y/y. (These data have a longer history [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Business Conditions Index ticked up to -12.9 after an unrevised sharp decline last month to -16.6. The figure was the third consecutive monthly negative reading and [...]

It's been hard to find a solid indication of the economy's future, and one of the better series has been waffling. The Leading Economic Indicator index from the Conference Board fell 0.3% last month following a 0.4% May rise, [...]

In all likelihood celebration for the Queen’s Jubilee is responsible for erratic path of sales pushing them up then sending them crashing back to normal levels when the merry-making was over. Even accounting for that there is little [...]

Last week's indication of labor market improvement was a false reading.Initial claims for unemployment insurance jumped to 386,000 during the week ended July 14th from a much-lower 352,000 during the prior week, revised from 350,000. [...]

As Italy’s export and import trends wither on a yr/yr basis. But domestic demand is sinking faster than foreign demand therefore imports are falling faster than exports and that is pushing the current account into surplus. That, in [...]

Lower interest rates can still stimulate activity in the mortgage market. The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications jumped 16.9% (68.2% y/y) last week, nearly reaching this cycle's high. Applications to [...]

The housing market continues to respond to low interest rates, however slowly. June housing starts rose 6.9% to 760,000 (23.6% y/y) from 711,000 in May, revised from 708,000. The latest level was the highest of the economic recovery, [...]