Economy in Brief: July 2018

Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 207,000 during the week ended July 14, down 8,000 from the 215,000 of the prior week; that was revised up by 1,000. The latest week marked the smallest number of initial claims [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rebounded to 25.7 during July and recovered a piece of its June decline to 19.9. The gain surpassed expectations for a reading of 21.0 [...]

Japan's early June trade results show a goods trade position having swung back to surplus in June from deficit in May. Japan's trade position has been alternating between surplus and deficit for several months after a seven-month run [...]

The German trade account surplus widened in May after narrowing in April. At a level of 20.3 billion euros in May, it is above its 12-month average which lies at 20.0 billion euros and quite close to its previous 12-month ago 12-month [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index declined 2.5% last week (-12.8% y/y) following a 2.5% gain during the prior week. The effective interest rate on a 15-year mortgage was little [...]

Total housing starts declined 12.3% (-4.2% y/y) during June to 1.173 million (AR) from 1.337 million in May, revised from 1.350 million. It was the lowest level of starts in nine months. A rise to 1.320 million starts had been [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo was unchanged (+6.8% y/y) at 68 during July, which was unrevised. The latest reading compared to expectations for 69 in the Informa Global [...]

The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production increased 0.6% (3.8% y/y) during June following a 0.5% May decline, revised from -0.1%. April's 1.1% rise was stronger than reported earlier. The June rise matched expectations [...]