Economy in Brief: September 2012

Home buying is gaining momentum. The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes rose 7.8% last month to a 4.820M annual rate. That followed an unrevised 2.3% July rise. It raised sales to the highest level [...]

New residential building activity remained on a solid footing last month. Total housing starts rose 2.3% (29.1% y/y) to 750,000 (AR) from 733,000 during July, revised down from 746,000. Expectations had been for 760,000 starts in [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo increased three points this month to 40. The latest figure was the highest since June 2006. The index of single-family home sales rose four [...]

For a month and a half gasoline prices have been on the rise. The pump price of regular gasoline rose three cents last week to $3.88 per gallon, the highest level since mid-April. At this is the time of year, seasonal price pressures [...]

The U.S. current account deficit lessened last quarter to $117.4B from $133.6B in Q1. The easing left the deficit to GDP ratio at 3.0%, roughly the same as in 2011 and 2010. Total exports grew another 1.2% led by a 1.4% (5.9% y/y) [...]

Singapore's exports of goods and services declined 2.43% in August and imports of goods and services were up 4.06% with the result that the favorable balance on trade in goods and services declined from S$4.7 in July to S$2.2 billion [...]

Despite the weakening in factory sector activity, there's recently been broad-based strength in industrial commodity prices. At 169.5, the latest price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) [...]

Industrial sector activity continues to soften. The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for September fell to -10.41, its lowest level of the economic recovery. Consensus expectations had been for m/m improvement [...]