Economy in Brief

• Declines in both purchase and refinancing applications. • Mortgage interest rates mostly edged down but remain off recent lows. The Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Loan Applications Index fell 4.1% w/w (+39.7% y/y) in the [...]

State labor market data results in December were again mixed. The count of states with falling unemployment has been on the downtrend, with 19 seeing improvement from November to December, a noticeably smaller number than has recently [...]

Many commentators have been focusing on some of the negative longer-term effects of the coronavirus crisis on the world economy. These include higher levels of debt, higher long-term unemployment, weaker world trade growth and [...]

The U.K. retail volume survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) shows dramatically weakened data for January- and for the February outlook- as the U.K. implements what is still a severe economic lockdown. U.K. [...]

• Consumer confidence rebounds following two months of decline. • Expectations improve while the current conditions reading continues to fall. • Jobs gap deterioration suggests higher unemployment rate. The Conference Board Consumer [...]

• House prices rose 1.0% m/m, the sixth consecutive monthly increase of 1.0% or more. • Prices were up 11.0% y/y, a series record annual increase. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index increased 1.0% m/m in [...]

Many commentators have been focusing on some of the negative longer-term effects of the coronavirus crisis on the world economy. These include higher levels of debt, higher long-term unemployment, weaker world trade growth and [...]

• Gasoline prices edge higher to March 2020 peak. • Oil prices increase to last February's high. • Natural gas prices weaken after two weeks of improvement. The price of regular gasoline rose to $2.39 per gallon (-4.5% y/y) in the [...]