Economy in Brief: September 2018

New home building activity improved last month. Total housing starts rose 9.2% during August (9.4% y/y) to 1.282 million (AR) from 1.174 million in July, revised from 1.168 million. That followed an 11.4% June decline to 1.177 [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo remained unchanged during September at 67. August's figure was unrevised and the index remained below its December 2017 high of 74. [...]

Canadian factory orders fell for the second month in a row in July but because of an order surge back in May the three-month growth rate continues to record a solid 6.4% rate of growth. Unfilled orders were flat in July but had risen [...]

Gasoline prices were $2.84 per gallon last week (7.9% y/y) and have been little changed since May. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in prices. The seasonally-adjusted gasoline price rose [...]

The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) today announced cutting its outlook for the UK economy. It seems to be more pessimistic than it was in the second quarter when the (above) survey was conducted. At that time the various survey [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions declined to 19.0 during September from 25.6 in August. It was the lowest reading since April, but suggested continued economic growth. The Action Economics Forecast [...]

Faster growth in spending and a lessened increase in revenues is a sure formula for widening the budget deficit. The U.S. Treasury Department reported that during August, the federal government ran a $$214.1 billion budget deficit, [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.6% (4.3% y/y) during July following a 0.1% June rise. It was the strongest increase since February. Total business sales increased 0.2% (8.1% y/y), following a 0.3% gain. The inventory-to-sales [...]