Economy in Brief: April 2017

Ireland showed a sharp gain in exports and a particularly explosive gain in imports in February. The import surge comes on the heels of a previous monthly collapse which takes all of the lift out of this latest gain. The sequential [...]

Housing starts during March declined 6.8% to 1.215 million (AR), and retraced all of February's increase to 1.303 million, revised from 1.288 million. Expectations had been for 1.256 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Pursuant to the 2015 Act, Treasury in its report has found that no major trading partner met all three criteria for the current reporting period to be named a currency manipulator. Treasury also concludes that no major trading partner [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo fell 4.2% to 68 during April and reversed half of the prior month's increase. Despite the decline, the index remained 17.2% higher y/y. The [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions for April fell to 5.2 from 16.4 in March. It was the weakest reading since November. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 15.0. These data, reported by the [...]

Business sales rose 0.2% m/m (7.1% y/y) in February versus a 0.3% monthly gain in January. For the major sectors, retail sales slipped 0.3% m/m (5.3% y/y) in February while both wholesale sales and manufacturing shipments increased. [...]

Pricing pressure evaporated last month. The Consumer Price Index fell 0.3% during March, the first monthly decline since February 2016. Prices were expected to remain stable in the Action Economic Forecast Survey. The breadth of the [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants fell 0.2% (5.2% y/y) in March following a 0.3% decrease in February; that was revised from +0.1% reported initially. The Action Economics Forecast Survey anticipated that March sales [...]