Economy in Brief: 2013

Housing starts during November surged 22.7% to 1.091 million (29.6% y/y) on top of a 1.8% October gain to 889,000. The latest level beat expectations for 965,000 starts in the Action Economics survey. Starts of single-family homes [...]

Sales at chain stores were vigorous last week. The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales recovered 4.8% (2.0% y/y) last week to the highest level since mid-July. The rise follows a [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline prices fell to $3.24 (-2.4% y/y) last week and remained versus the $3.78 per gallon peak reached late in February. Much of the decline reflects less driving this time of year. Haver Analytics [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo jumped four points to 58 this month and landed at the highest level since the economic expansion began. This latest figure was stronger than [...]

Consumer prices held steady during November (1.2% y/y) following an unrevised 0.1% October slip. Expectations had been for a 0.1% uptick. Consumer prices excluding food and energy increased 0.2% (1.7% y/y), stronger than the expected [...]

Nonfarm business sector productivity matched expectations and grew 3.0% last quarter, revised up from the initial estimate of 1.9% growth. Over the past year, however, worker productivity only ticked up 0.3%, revised from unchanged. [...]

Industrial production jumped 1.1% last month (3.3% y/y) following a 0.1% October uptick, initially reported as -0.1%. A 0.3% gain had been expected in the Action Economics forecast survey. A 3.9% jump (2.9% y/y) in utility output [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for December ticked up to 0.98 from an unrevised November reading of -2.21. The gain disappointed expectations for a [...]