Economy in Brief: 2014

The Federal Reserve Board reported that consumer credit outstanding increased $19.6 billion during May following a $26.1 billion April gain, last month reported as $26.8 billion. Expectations were for an $18.1 billion increase, [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales increased 1.7% (3.3% y/y) last week, the third week of strong gain. Sales began this month 3.6% above the June average which slipped 0.2% [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index moved 1.9% higher last week (-33.6% y/y) to the highest level in four weeks. Applications remained two-thirds below the peak in September 2012. [...]

Greek inflation has slowed its rate of descent in June. In March, prices were falling by 1.5% year-over-year. In April that accelerated to -1.6%; in May, prices were falling by 2.1% year-over-year. In June, the year-over-year decline [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline edged two cents lower to $3.68 last week (+5.3% y/y). Prices remained lower than the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To account for seasonal volatility, Haver [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the job openings rate increased to 3.2% during May from an unrevised 3.1% in April. The latest level was the highest since September [...]

Germany's trade flows have slowed with both exports and imports falling in May. Exports fell by 1.1% following a strong 2.6% April gain. Imports fell by an outsized 3.4% after climbing by a skinny 0.2% in April. Import growth appears [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index slipped to 95.0 during June after improvement to 96.6 in May. The latest level remained near its highest since September 2007, just before [...]