Economy in Brief: April 2015

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index for April improved to 7.5 from an unrevised 5.0 in January. The number, nevertheless, remained well below the high of 40.2 [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance in the week ended April 11 nudged up to 294,000 (-3.5% y/y) from 282,000 in the prior week, revised from 281,000. Despite the rise, the four-week moving average of claims of 282,750 was nearly the [...]

European auto registrations popped in January and have continued to build on that strong gain. Monthly registrations are up for four consecutive months. Annual gains are in the 7% to 10% range consistently in 2015 (three months in). [...]

Housing starts during March improved 2.0% to 926,000 units (-3.5% y/y). The gain followed declines during the prior two months totaling 16.0%. February's level of starts was revised to 908,000 from 897,000. Last month's improvement [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo recovered to 56 in April (21.7% y/y) following a plunge to 52 in March, revised from 53. It was the highest level since January. During the [...]

Overall industrial output fell 0.6% during March (+2.0% y/y) following an unrevised 0.1% February uptick. Improved weather caused utility output to fall 5.9%, reversing February's increase. A 0.3% decline in production had been [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions declined to -1.19 during April after slipping to 6.90 in March. The figure, from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, was the first negative reading since December and [...]

With global growth sputtering and the euro plunging on foreign exchange markets, the EMU region's trade surplus has reached its second highest point in at least the last 16 years. While everyone is obsessed about how low the euro can [...]