Economy in Brief: August 2013

Price inflation showed signs of moderating last month. The July consumer price index increased an expected 0.2% (2.0% y/y) following its 0.5% jump during June. Prices excluding food and energy also gained 0.2% (1.7% y/y) for the third [...]

Higher interest rates continue to take their toll on the mortgage market. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the total mortgage market index fell 4.7% (-46.8% y/y) last week. Home purchase mortgage applications declined [...]

Well, it's a semi-official conclusion, if preliminary, but it nonetheless seems to be true that recession in the European Monetary Union is over. The GDP release is only at its 'flash value' which gives us the preliminary headline [...]

Upward pressure on wholesale prices eased last month. The producer price index for finished goods was unchanged during July (2.1% y/y) following an unrevised 0.8% June increase. The figure fell short of consensus expectations for a [...]

Total business inventories were unchanged versus May (3.5% y/y) following that month's 0.1% downtick, last month reported as a 0.1% uptick. The figure was accompanied by a 0.2% rise (4.9% y/y) in business sales. As a result, the [...]

Last month Germany's ZEW index rose on only one leg while this month it rises on two, as both current conditions and expectations have improved month-to-month. Last month, as the current index advanced to 10.6 in July from a reading [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index nudged up during July to a seasonally adjusted 94.1 from 93.5 in June. The gain did not fully make up June's decline and thus remained [...]

Import prices increased 0.2% last month following a 0.4% June decline, initially reported as -0.2%. A 0.9% rise in prices had been expected in the Action Economics survey. A 3.2% jump (7.8% y/y) in petroleum prices was accompanied by [...]