Economy in Brief: 2011

For the third straight week claims held near the same level. Initial claims for jobless insurance ticked up to 427,000 last week from 426,000 during the week prior, revised from 422,000. The latest figure was higher than Consensus [...]

Smaller German trade surplus - German trade flows withered in nominal terms as the trade surplus fell to €11.98bln in April form €15.12bln in March. Still what happens with nominal flows can be deceiving. Understanding the under [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that overall mortgage applications slipped 0.4% last week following a 4.0% decline during the prior week. Applications began this month down 1.0% from the May average. Applications to purchase [...]

The improved job market has encouraged more credit usage by consumers. Reported late yesterday, overall consumer credit rose $6.3B during April following a downwardly-revised March gain of $4.8B. A $5.0B increase has been expected by [...]

A news headline announced that the overall May unemployment rate unexpectedly edged up to 9.1%. The Labor Department's figures painted a picture not only of higher unemployment but of great variation in conditions by gender, age, [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the April job openings rate slipped to 2.1% from 2.3% during March. The latest reading remained improved versus the recession low of [...]

The consumer recently has shown an indication to pull back from past, strong spending trends. Like last month's decline in vehicle sales, chain store sales fell 2.2% in May. In addition today's news of a 0.4% w/w uptick in store sales [...]

Last week, the pump price for regular gasoline fell one penny to $3.78 per gallon. Since the peak four weeks ago prices have fallen 17 cents (4.6%). Pump prices usually start rising this time of year with increased seasonal demand. To [...]