Economy in Brief: 2014

New home sales during May increased 18.6% m/m (16.9% y/y) to 504,000 from 425,000 during April, initially reported as 433,000. The latest was the highest level of sales since May 2008 and beat expectations for 440,000 sales in the [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) held steady during April, the weakest monthly reading since November. As a result, the year-to-year growth rate fell to 5.9% from an 8.5% peak in July of [...]

The price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked higher to $3.70 last week (3.6% y/y). The price has been near the current level since April but remained down from the $3.78 per gallon peak reached in February of last year. To [...]

Earlier improvement in home sales picked up steam last month. Sales of existing single-family homes in May jumped 4.9% (-5.0% y/y) to 4.890 million (AR) from 4.660 million in April, earlier reported as 4.650 million. Despite the [...]

The overall EMU private sector activity index fell in June, dropping for the second month in a row. Both manufacturing and services components weakened although each continued to show expansion in its respective sector. Germany's [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve reported that its National Activity Index (CFNAI) for May gained to 0.21 and recovered the April decline to -0.15, revised from -0.32. The reading indicates that overall U.S. economic activity is on a [...]

Industrial commodity prices recently have retraced gains logged since early-February. The industrial commodity price index, from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER), averaged 165.09 this week, down [...]

The EMU current account surplus widened month-to-month and is higher year-over-year. The balance of trade in goods is in surplus and it widened month-to-month as well as year-over-year. The services balance is also in surplus and is [...]