Economy in Brief: June 2015

At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed indicated that improved job gains are supporting growth in consumer spending while business investment and net exports remained soft. Moderate growth in the economy was [...]

EMU inflation has a year-over-year gain for the first time in six months. With the effect of falling oil out of the way, inflation is again headed higher. But what will that mean for the euro area? One thing history and the financial [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index backpedaled 5.5% last week (+7.7% y/y) and remained one-third below the January peak. Purchase applications decreased 4.2% (+15.0% y/y). [...]

The industrial commodity price index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) moved in a narrow range during the last month. Erratic sideways movement also is in evidence for most of this year, as [...]

Gasoline prices jumped 2.0% last week to an average $2.84 per gallon at the pump (-23.1% y/y). They were at the highest level since November, up from the low of $2.04 late in January. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for [...]

Housing starts during May declined 11.1% to a 1.036 million annual rate (+4.6% y/y), following a revised 22.1% rise to 1.165 million units, last month reported as 1.135 mil. May's figure fell short of expectations for 1.095 million [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo increased during June to 59 (20.4% y/y) following an unrevised decline to 54 in May. It was the highest level in nine months and exceeded [...]

Overall industrial output fell 0.2% during May (+1.4% y/y) following a 0.5% drop in April, initially reported as -0.3%. A 0.2% rise in production had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Manufacturing sector [...]