Economy in Brief

Fueled by low interest rates and a strong job market, new home building strengthened during December. Housing starts jumped 16.9% (40.8% y/y) to 1.608 million (AR) from November's 1.375 million, revised from 1.365 million. It was the [...]

• Import prices rose 0.3% in December, driven by a 2.8% jump in fuel prices. Excluding fuels, import prices were unchanged. • Export prices declined 0.2%. Rounding at lower levels of the aggregation of the price index accounted for [...]

Germany's inflation, in fact, is not back to normal or even in the normal range…yet. Even if it were, the ECB mandate is to run policy off of the EMU-wide inflation situation, not the German situation. Germany does have the lowest [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo slipped during January. The index level of 75 compared to 76 in December but remained up 29.3% y/y. It was nearly the highest level for the [...]

A month ago, the headline here was the exact opposite: "Inventories Rise While Sales Slip." So that October condition reversed in November: total business inventories decreased 0.2% (2.8% y/y) after October's 0.1% rise, as November [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index surged to 17.0 during January, the highest level since May of last year. An index of 3.0 had been expected in the Action [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.2% (3.1% y/y) during October following a 0.1% September dip, revised from 0.0%. Total business sales eased 0.1% both m/m and y/y after a 0.4% September decline, revised from -0.2%. The inventory- [...]

The latest readings of labor market conditions were mixed. Initial claims for jobless insurance declined 9,000 to 214,000 (-3.2% y/y) in the week ended January 4......... Continuing claims for unemployment insurance in the week ended [...]