Economy in Brief: February 2017

In December, Italian and French industrial production went their separate ways, one up, the other down. But the sequential annualized growth rates from three-month to six-month to 12-month show output is expanding and accelerating in [...]

Import prices increased 0.4% (3.7% y/y) during January after a 0.5% December rise, revised from 0.4%. A 0.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These figures are not seasonally adjusted. Petroleum [...]

Japan's machinery orders fell by 3.1% in December while core orders rose by 6.7%. November has the growth rate 'signs' reversed with total orders up by 20.6% and core orders down by 5.1%. The monthly series is volatile. However, from [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level jumped another 1.0% (2.8% y/y) during December, the same as in November. The advance report indicated a 1.1% December increase. Inventories of durable goods increased 0.7% (0.8% y/y) after a 1.0% [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 234,000 (-9.7% y/y) during the week ended February 4 from an unrevised 246,000 claims in the prior week. It was the lowest level in twelve weeks. The four-week moving average of claims [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index rose 2.3% last week (-21.8% y/y) following a 3.2% decline during the week prior. Purchase applications rebounded 1.8% (5.5% y/y) after a 5.6% fall. [...]

The OECD overall gauge shows continued growth as the comprehensive index rises to a rounded up value of 100 in December from 99.9 in November and continues its one-tick per month advance that has been in play for the last three [...]

Regular gasoline prices slipped to $2.29 per gallon (+30.4% y/y) last week following a decline to $2.30 per gallon in the prior week. Prices peaked at $2.39 early last month, and remained down from a 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. [...]