Economy in Brief: December 2011

In another sign of labor market healing, initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped sharply last week to 366,000 from 385,000 (revised from 382,000) during the week prior. The latest reading was the lowest since May 2008. [...]

The Euro-Area slowdown is portrayed clearly in the chart of industrial production Yr/Yr growth rates by sector as well as by the sequential growth rates from 12-months an in by sector as well as across EU/EMU nations. Three strikes [...]

The index of total mortgage applications increased 4.1% last week to 677.0 (March 16, 1990 = 100). The gain added to the prior week's 12.8% rise. Applications to refinance jumped 9.3% (22.8% y/y) to the highest level since early [...]

U.S. import prices rose 0.7% last month and made up a revised 0.5% October decline, initially reported as -0.6%. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.8% rise last month. Year-to-year, higher oil prices and the lower value of the [...]

The U.S. Commerce Department reported yesterday that business inventories rose 0.8% during October following no change in September. A 0.5% increase had been expected. Business sales increased a stable 0.7%. As a result, the [...]

A slight improvement in the ZEW (Germany's Center for European Economic Research) measure of the expectations of German investors and analysts for the economy in the next six months is bringing some cheer to the stock markets of [...]

The improving job market trend remains in place but it stuttered m/m in October. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the October job openings rate slipped m/m to 2.4% from [...]

There is a little good news in the Zew survey but it is still very little. The expectations index has stopped falling in December but its rebound is so slight it is hardly detectable on the graph. Moreover, with the expectations index [...]