Economy in Brief: July 2013

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales declined 1.1% last week (+1.7% y/y) but remained near the record high. So far in July sales are 3.5% above the June average after two [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo jumped 6 points to 57 this month following a 7 point advance in June. The latest rise was to the highest level since January 2006 and [...]

Industrial production grew 0.4% during June following a 0.1% May slip, earlier reported as +0.1%. A 0.3% rise had been expected in the Action Economics survey. Factory sector production edged up 0.2% (1.7% y/y) following a 0.3% [...]

All of a sudden the cost of living has jumped. The consumer price index surged 0.5% in June (1.8% y/y) after a 0.1% May uptick. It was the firmest rise since February and beat expectations for a 0.3% increase. Prices excluding food [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated that its Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions rose to 9.46 this month from an unrevised 7.84 in June. The latest figure beat Consensus expectations for 5.0. [...]

Total business inventories nudged up 0.1% during May (3.8% y/y) following a downwardly revised 0.2% April gain. The figure was accompanied by a 1.1% jump (3.1% y/y) in business sales. As a result, the inventory-to-sales ratio ticked [...]

Export trends in the current month appear to be negative with real export flows in five of eight countries in the table showing negative trends in May and four of them showing negative results in April. However, over three months [...]

The consumer remains in a buying mood, but purchases last month were not broadly based. Retail sales increased 0.4% during June (5.7% y/y) following a 0.5% May increase, initially reported as 0.6%. A 0.7% rise had been expected [...]