Economy in Brief

• Housing market continues to recover. • Rebound leaves activity below December's peak. The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo moved up to 58 during June and added to its May rise [...]

• Industrial production rose 1.4% in May after a downwardly-revised record 12.5% drop in April. • Manufacturing increased 3.8%; still at 1997 levels. • Motor vehicle output more than doubles but at just 36.4% of February level. [...]

• Consumer spending posts surprising, record increase. • Discretionary spending rebounds sharply, reflecting pent-up demand. Total retail sales, including food service establishments, increased a record 17.7% (-6.1% y/y) during May [...]

Total business inventories fell 1.3% m/m (-2.2% y/y) in April, following a revised 0.3% m/m decline in March. The April decline was larger than the 0.8% decline expected by the Informa Global Markets panel. Business sales collapsed [...]

• Gasoline and crude oil prices move higher. • Natural gas prices hold steady. The price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose to $2.10 per gallon (-21.4% y/y) in the week ended June 15 from $2.04 per gallon in the previous week. It [...]

The EMU trade situation saw an extremely sharp deterioration in its surplus in April. The surplus dropped from €25.5bln to €1.2bln in one month! It is by far the sharpest monthly setback on data back to January 1999. EMU experienced [...]

Economic activity in New York is strengthening. The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions rose sharply to -0.2 during June from -48.5 in May. The rebound far outpaced expectations for an increase to -31.3 in [...]

Japan's industrial production index fell sharply in April and on revision the drop has been revised slightly smaller. However, the drop is still enormous and it came on the heels of a substantial drop in March and a small decline in [...]