Economy in Brief: October 2019

Building activity retraced some of last month’s strength. Housing starts fell a greater-than-expected 9.4% in September (+1.6% year-on-year) to 1.256 million-unit annual rate, from an upwardly-revised 1.386 million in August. The [...]

U.K. retail sales in September fell by 0.2% as the volume index ticked higher by 0.1%. Nominal sales volumes with a 50.7 percentiles are just a nudge above their median while sales volume growth over the past year at 6.3% has a 59.9 [...]

Industrial production fell 0.4% (-0.1% y/y) during September following a 0.8% August rise, revised from 0.6%. A 0.1% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Factory sector output weakened 0.5% (-0.9% y/y) [...]

Building activity retraced some of last month's strength. Housing starts fell a greater-than-expected 9.4% in September (+1.6% year-on-year) to 1.256 million-unit annual rate, from an upwardly-revised 1.386 million in August. The [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index declined to 5.6 in October following a September reading of 12.0. It was the lowest figure since June, down from the July high [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending October 12 rose 4,000 to 214,000 (-0.5% y/y) from an unrevised 210,000 in the previous week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 215,000. The four-week moving [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo rose for the fourth consecutive month to 71 in October from 68 in September. This is the highest reading since January 2018. The index has [...]

The headlines European auto sales fell sharply in September by 20.2% month-to-month but since they fell by 40% month-to-month one year ago in September; the year-over-year pace has accelerated to a 19.7% gain. That kind of volatility [...]