Economy in Brief

Manufacturers' orders for durable goods declined 1.1% (-5.4% y/y) during September following a 0.3% August rise, revised from 0.2%. A 0.9% decline had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Orders for nondefense [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending October 19 fell 6,000 to 212,000 (-2.8% y/y) from 218,000 in the previous week, which was revised from 214,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 215,000. The [...]

The climate gauge for French industry fell to 99.4 in October from 101.6 in September, marking its lowest point since March 2015. French manufacturing claimed for a plateau of readings in early-2015 to a peak at 113.5 in January 2018. [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index declined 11.9% (+53.6% y/y) during the week ending October 18, following a 0.5% improvement in the previous week. Applications to refinance a loan plunged 17.1% [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index increased 0.2% in August, following an unrevised 0.4% increase in July. During the last twelve months, home prices improved 4.6%, the weakest growth since late 2014. That growth [...]

The Brexit process has been taking a toll on the performance of industrial orders in the United Kingdom. But the situation is only getting progressively worse and the worsening is becoming more extreme. Net orders fell to a -37 [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes fell 2.2% (+3.9% y/y) during September to 5.380 million from 5.50 million in August, revised from 5.490 million. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its Nonmanufacturing Business Index of current conditions at the company level fell to 8.7 during October after declining to 29.4 in September. Nevertheless, the index of expected [...]