Economy in Brief: August 2014

Sales of existing single-family homes strengthened 2.4% to 5.150 million (AR) during July from 5.030 million in June, last month reported as 5.040 million. Sales were at the highest level since last September, but nevertheless [...]

The flash PMI for the European Monetary Union in August slipped once again to 52.8 from 54.0 in July. The index is back to where was in June. The manufacturing index, which had been stable at 51.9 in June and July, has dropped to 50.8 [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance during the week ended August 16 eased to 298,000 from 312,000 in the prior week, revised from 311,000. The latest figure compared to expectations for 300,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Industrial orders in the U.K. saw the net order gauge rise to 11 in August, back to its June level. This is not just the strongest reading since June; it's a reading that has been surpassed historically only 1% of the time. The [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index improved 1.4% last week (-24.0% y/y) after the prior week's 2.7% decline. Applications remained two-thirds below the peak in September 2012. [...]

UK factory prices rose less than expected, gaining 0.2% in July after falling 0.2% in June. Over three months, these prices are falling at a 0.6% annual rate. Over six months, they are rising at a 0.6% annual rate. Over 12 months, [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline declined four cents last week to $3.47 (-2.2% y/y). Prices remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To account for seasonal volatility, Haver Analytics [...]

Housing starts during July jumped 15.7% to 1,093,000 AR (21.7% y/y) following a 4.0% June decline to 945,000, revised from 893,000. The latest level was the highest since November and easily beat expectations for 965,000 starts in the [...]