Economy in Brief: August 2003

Two important measures of economic activity in Germany showed improvement in their latest reports. Factory orders rose 2.1% in June, reversing May’s 2.6% decline. Weakness in the domestic economy persists as local orders continued to [...]

The index of mortgage applications compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association ticked up a slight 1.1% last week following steep declines in five of the prior eight weeks. Those declines pulled applications down 47% from the peak [...]

The service industry in the Euro Zone expanded in July for the first time this year. The diffusion index for the service industry based on a survey of purchasing managers by NTC Research in Henley-on-Thames, England for Reuters Group [...]

The Institute for Supply Management reported that its July index of activity in the nonmanufacturing sector rose to the highest level in the series brief seven year history. The index rose to 65.1 versus Consensus expectations for a [...]

There has been a major realignment of currencies over the past year or so. The trade weighted US dollar against the major currencies has depreciated by more than 12% over the past year, but only 6% against a broader selection of [...]

Factory orders surged 1.7% in June following a 0.3% increase in May. A 2.6% jump in durable goods orders drove the rise which was revised up slightly from an advance report of a 2.1% gain. The strength in June durable orders reflected [...]

Nonfarm payrolls declined again in July and figures for May and June were revised downward to show larger declines (see table below). This result was remarkably close to forecasts, which had called for a 50,000 decrease. At the same [...]