Economy in Brief: 2015

Overall retail sales including food services & drinking places during May strengthened 1.2% (1.0% y/y) following gains of 0.2% and 1.5%. The April and March results were revised up from little-change and 1.1%. The May increase matched [...]

Inflation in Portugal is now rising sharply. Year-over-year inflation is still tepid, below 1% in both the HICP and National inflation definitions. But over three months, inflation is at a 4.5% annual rate on the HICP definition and [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index rebounded 8.4% last week (4.3% y/y) following several weeks of decline. Purchase applications increased 9.7% (14.8% y/y). Applications to refinance [...]

The Federal Government reported an $82.4 billion budget deficit during May compared to a $130.0 billion deficit during May of 2014. A $98.0 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. For the first eight [...]

The Quarterly Services Survey is produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. It samples approximately 5,000 service businesses with paid employees. For Q1 2015, it indicated that Hospitals revenue grew 9.2% y/y, the largest gain amongst the [...]

French industrial production has hovered around a zero annual growth rate for several years. May's 2.1% month-to-month drop leaves IP shrinking by 3.7% year-over-year. Sequential growth rates show that recent IP trends have become [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index rebounded 8.4% last week (4.3% y/y) following several weeks of decline. Purchase applications increased 9.7% (14.8% y/y). Applications to refinance [...]

emerging labor shortage was evidenced by the job openings rate during April. It gained m/m to 3.7%, up from the recession low of 1.6%. It was just below the series' high of 3.8% early in 2001. The job openings rate is the number of [...]