Economy in Brief: April 2019

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index fell 5.6% (+24.1% y/y) during the week ending April 5......... The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications and [...]

The euro area trade surplus rose to 19.5 billion euros in February from 17.4 billion euros in January. The surplus is slightly smaller than its 20.2 billion euros surplus of 12-months ago. Month-to-month the balance of trade for [...]

Wholesale inventories increased 0.2% (6.9% y/y) during February following a 1.2% gain in January. The Informa Global Markets Survey expected a 0.5% rise. Durable goods inventories increased 0.1% (10.6% y/y) after a 0.8% gain. [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services declined to $49.38 billion during February. It was the narrowest shortfall since June of last year and compared to December's record of $59.90 billion. A deficit of $53.8 billion had been [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index decreased 3.5% (+14.9% year-on-year) during the week ending April 12. Applications to purchase a home increased 0.9% (7.0% y/y), while refinance [...]

The ZEW financial experts see largely weaker conditions prevailing in April 2019, but they have lifted expectations for all countries in the table except the United Kingdom. The queue (or rank) standings for current conditions are [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo rose to 63 during April after improved readings of 62 in the prior two months. The index remained up from the December low of 56, but below [...]

Industrial production eased 0.1% as expected (+2.8% y/y) during March after a 0.1% February improvement. Factory output held steady (1.0% y/y) following two straight months of modest decline. Data back through 2017 were revised. [...]