Economy in Brief: 2015

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City reported that the rate of deterioration in manufacturing business activity lessened during June. The Composite index of 10th District factory sector activity improved to -9 from -13. The reading [...]

A firmer labor market was behind today's report of strong personal spending and income. Initial unemployment insurance claims remained near the cycle low in the latest week. A small rise to 271,000 during the week of June 20 left the [...]

Consumers are spending what they earn. Personal consumption expenditures jumped 0.9% during May following a 0.1% uptick in April, revised from a negligible decline. It was the largest monthly increase since August 2009 and beat [...]

The GfK month-ahead projection of German consumer confidence sees a small set back in store. The drop is to 10.1 in July from 10.2 in June. At a level of 10.1, the German confidence index is higher just 1.2% of the time historically. [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity of 54.1 remained at nearly the highest level since March 2012. Strength was derived from improvement in the number of full-time [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index nudged 1.6% higher last week (10.9% y/y) but remained one-third below the January peak. Purchase applications improved 1.2% (18.1% y/y). [...]

Real GDP eased 0.2% last quarter (SAAR), revised from a 0.7% shortfall estimated last month. Business activity suffered last quarter due to severe winter weather and West Coast port closings. It was the third quarterly decline since [...]

Germany's Ifo business confidence index fell to 107.4 in June from 108.5 in May. The table below presents a diffusion treatment of the Ifo indexes since we can see sector details faster in this treatment of the survey. The all-sector [...]