Economy in Brief: August 2014

Import prices slipped 0.2% during July (+0.8% y/y) following an unrevised 0.1% uptick in June. The shortfall matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. A 1.4% decline (+1.7% y/y) in petroleum prices provided the [...]

GDP growth in the European Monetary Union (seasonally adjusted and working day adjusted) barely edged higher in Q2 2014, rising by 0.2%. The year-over-year figures show a deceleration in the growth rate to 0.7% in Q2 2014 from 0.9% in [...]

Job market improvement stuttered last week. Initial claims for jobless insurance during the week ended August 9 increased to 311,000, the highest level in six weeks. Claims during the prior week totaled 290,000, revised from 289,000. [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 2.7% last week (-28.4% y/y). Applications remained two-thirds below the peak in September 2012. Applications to refinance an existing [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.4% in June (5.8% y/y) after an unrevised 0.5% May advance. Increases in inventories during Q2'14 picked up versus the first quarter and added 1.6 percentage points to real GDP growth. That [...]

Retail and food service sales were unchanged (3.7% y/y) during July following an unrevised 0.2% June rise. A 0.3% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Fewer sales of motor vehicles & parts limited last [...]

The worries about European growth are for good reason. Total EMU industrial production excluding construction fell by 0.3% in June after a 1.1% decline in May. In the quarter, it's rising at a 0.1% annual rate. That's pretty thin [...]

The Federal Government posted a $94.6 billion budget deficit during July of FY 2014, and roughly matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. For the first ten months of the current fiscal year, the government ran a [...]