Economy in Brief: September 2013

Housing starts during August posted a 0.9% gain to 891,000 (19.0% y/y) and added to the 5.7% July increase to 883,000, revised down from 896,000 reported initially. The latest level fell short of expectations for 916,000 starts in the [...]

Consumers have developed cautious spending habits of late. The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales fell 1.6% last week (+3.2% y/y). So far this month sales have slipped 0.5% from [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline fell 4 cents last week to $3.55 (-8.5% y/y). Prices remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached late in February. Haver Analytics constructs seasonal factors to account for seasonal [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo held at 58 this month after a 2 point advance in August. The latest level remained the highest since November 2005 but disappointed [...]

The ZEW index for Germany showed a very sharp increase in its current conditions index, rising to 30.6 in September from 18.3 in August. The expectations index moved up sharply too, it has reached 49.6 from a level of 42.0 in August. [...]

Consumer prices posted a minimal increase last month. The August consumer price index rise of just 0.1% (1.5% y/y) followed an unrevised 0.2% gain during July. A 0.2% increase had been expected according to the Action Economics [...]

The chart shows the path of inflation in the European Monetary Union and for a few select members using the harmonized index of consumer prices (HICP) for EMU and for each country. What's interesting about the chart above is that [...]

Factory sector activity is showing renewed life. Industrial production gained 0.4% during August (2.7% y/y) following an unrevised no-change in July. A 0.5% rise had been expected in the Action Economics survey. Factory sector [...]