Economy in Brief

• Conference Board measure of consumer confidence falls for second consecutive month; lowest since August. • Current conditions index plummets while expectations rise. • Jobs gap suggests flat-to-up unemployment rate in December. The [...]

It is almost December 23rd and that means that Festivus is almost upon us. It is traditional on Festivus to air one's grievances. And this Festivus, I got a lot of problems with you people. My problems with you include the so-called [...]

• Existing home sales reverse some of October's increase. • Inventory of unsold homes falls sharply. • Sales weaken broadly across regions. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes fell 2.5% [...]

German confidence in the GfK survey has gone from a highflying set of optimistic readings prior to the Covid-19 crisis to a weak wobbling and slipping assessment of German welfare. The index that assesses economic climate on a scale [...]

• Q3 GDP surge follows Q2 plunge; final demand improvement strengthened. • Record after-tax profits' rebound is reduced. • Prices improve as previously reported. U.S. real GDP rose 33.4% (SAAR) during Q3'20 (-2.8% y/y), revised from a [...]

• Conference Board measure of consumer confidence falls for second consecutive month; lowest since August. • Current conditions index plummets while expectations rise. • Jobs gap suggests flat-to-up unemployment rate in December. The [...]

• Gasoline prices rose to highest since mid-March. • Crude oil prices rise again to highest level since February. • Natural gas prices rebound. The price of regular gasoline was rose to $2.22 per gallon (-12.2% y/y) in the week ended [...]

The CBI (Confederation of British Industry) survey of U.K. retailers shows clear December improvement compared to November. All current retail measures are better than in November and the inventory reading is leaner (in fact extremely [...]