Economy in Brief: September 2018

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) eased 0.3% during the last four weeks and extended the decline in prices since the peak in the middle of June. The [...]

Borrowing in U.S. financial markets slowed in Q2 2018, according to the Federal Reserve's Financial Accounts data, totaling $2,596 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, compared to $4,512 billion in Q1. The federal government [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes during August were unchanged at 5.340 million (SAAR, -1.5%). July's figure was unrevised. Sales remained at the lowest level since February 2016, down 6.6% [...]

Initial unemployment insurance applications decreased to 201,000 (-21.2% y/y) during the week ended September 15 from 204,000 in the prior week, which was unrevised. This was the smallest number of initial claims since November 15, [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.4% (6.4% y/y) during August after a 0.7% July gain, revised from 0.6%. A 0.5% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The index [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 22.9 during September following an August decline to 11.9. The rise compared to expectations for a lesser increase to 15.0 in [...]

The U.S. current account deficit fell to $101.5 billion during Q2 2018 from $121.7 billion in Q1. It was the smallest deficit since Q4 2015 and compared to $103.5 billion expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. As a percent [...]

The UK inflation rate rose unexpectedly in August headline inflation zoomed to a 2.7% annual rate, up from 2.5% just last month. The rise in inflation was unexpected. Core inflation lags the release of headline inflation. Core [...]