Economy in Brief: April 2011

So long as the ECB insists on looking at headline inflation, the picture in the chart above is going to continue to haunt it in its sleep. While headline inflation is ‘raging’ that has almost nothing to do with monetary policy. [...]

Foreign investors made net purchases of $32.4 billion worth of U.S. long-term debt and equity securities in February, according the U.S. Treasury's International Capital ("TIC") data published today. This is noticeably less than [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions rose to 21.70, its highest level since April of last year. The figure beat Consensus expectations for a stable reading of [...]

U.S. industrial production jumped 0.9% in March following a revised no-change in February, initially reported as -0.1%. The latest increase roughly matched Consensus expectations for a 0.8% gain according to Action Economics. Improved [...]

Higher energy prices raised March inflation as they did in February. The Commerce Department indicated that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in March following a like gain in February. The increase matched Consensus expectations. [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that overall mortgage applications fell 6.7% last week to the lowest level since mid-February. Applications to refinance fell 7.7% w/w and were off roughly one-half from the peak last August. [...]

In a sign that perhaps labor market improvement has stalled, initial claims for jobless insurance rose to 412,000 last week from 385,000, initially reported as 382,000. The latest figure exceeded Consensus expectations for 378,000 [...]

The U.S. Producer Price Index for finished goods increased 0.7% last month after the 1.6% jump during February. The March increase was less than the 1.0% Consensus expectation. Less food & energy, however, pricing pressures picked up [...]