Economy in Brief: 2011

Overall mortgage applications fell 2.7% last week following the prior week's 5.9% shortfall. Nevertheless, strength earlier in June raised the monthly average 4.6% from May. Applications to refinance a mortgage led that increase. [...]

Chain store sales jumped 2.9% last week following modest declines during the prior two weeks. The increase left sales so far in June down 0.5% versus May, but that was half the m/m drop as of the prior week. During the last ten years [...]

The Equitization Ratio, the ratio of the market capitalization of a country to its gross domestic product has become a popular measure of stock market valuations. Warren Buffet is quoted as saying "this ratio is probably the best [...]

The Conference Board reported that its June Index of Consumer Confidence fell 5.2% to 58.6. That followed a 6.5% May decline which was slightly-less-than reported initially. The latest figure contrasted with Consensus expectations for [...]

The seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index slipped 0.1% m/m in April after a deepened 0.3% decline in March. It was the tenth consecutive monthly decline in the seasonally adjusted series. That left the latest index [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline fell another eight cents to $3.57 per gallon last week, the lowest level since mid-March. Since last month's peak, prices have fallen 39 cents but remain up nearly one-third versus last year. Pump [...]

Business confidence in manufacturing in the Netherlands is measured by the difference between those who see improvement and those who see deterioration in the outlook. Until the recession of 2008, the difference had never been more [...]

Personal income rose 0.3% last month following a 0.3% increase during April, initially reported as 0.4%. A 0.4% gain had been expected. Disposable income gained 0.2%, the same as in April. Adjusted for prices, however, growth was [...]