Economy in Brief: October 2014

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales declined 0.3% last week following a 0.7% decline during the prior week. As a result of weekly sales weakness, the y/y gain halved to 2.1%. [...]

Japan's economy continues to be weak. The government has downgraded its assessment of the economy. The Bank of Japan has downgraded one of its regions. The government is undergoing pressure as two ministers having just resigned under [...]

The cost of a gallon of regular gasoline continued to fall sharply last week. At $3.12 per gallon (-7.1% y/y), the price was down from $3.21 during the prior week and was its least expensive since January 2011. To account for seasonal [...]

Sales of existing single-family homes rose 2.4% to 5.170 million (AR, -1.7%) during September from an unrevised 5.050 million in August. Sales were 3.9% below the peak reached last July. The latest level beat expectations for 5.10 [...]

The cost of a gallon of regular gasoline continued to fall sharply last week. At $3.12 per gallon (-7.1% y/y), the price was down from $3.21 during the prior week and was its least expensive since January 2011. To account for seasonal [...]

The National Association for Business Economics reported in its Survey of Business Conditions that the unit demand figure declined to 42.3 last quarter from 52.4 in Q2. These data are diffusion indexes measuring the net position of [...]

The National Association for Business Economics reported in its Survey of Business Conditions that the unit demand figure declined to 42.3 last quarter from 52.4 in Q2. These data are diffusion indexes measuring the net position of [...]

Italian industrial orders in August rose by 1.5% after a 1.5% decline in July. Foreign orders rebounded by 2.5% after a 2.1% decrease in July. Domestic orders rose by 0.7% after a 0.9% decline in July. The message here is that there [...]