Economy in Brief

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that U.S. pending home sales rose a larger-than-expected 1.6% m/m in August (+2.5% y/y) following a 2.5% m/m decline in July. Meanwhile, mortgage rates continued to decline. The [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance in the week ending September 21 increased 3,000 to 213,000 (+0.5% y/y) from 210,000 in the previous week, which was revised from 208,000. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 212,000. [...]

Sales of new single-family homes rose 7.1% (18.0% y/y) during August to 713,000 (SAAR) from 666,000 in July, revised from 635,000. Sales of 656,000 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. These sales are recorded [...]

There are two layers to the distributive trade retail and wholesale survey. The first is the report on both sectors for September; the second is the report for expectations in October. The September results for retail sales volumes: [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index declined 10.1% (+45.3% y/y) in the week ending September 20, following a 0.1% dip during the prior week. Applications to refinance a loan declined 15.2% (+103.6% [...]

State personal income growth in the second quarter of 2019 was brisk, following even stronger growth in the first quarter (this release contains revisions consistent with the mid-summer revision of GDP). The regional pattern of growth [...]

The German IFO gauge is weak and remains weak after a slight improvement logged in September. The current business situation reading improved to 24.5 in September from 21.9 in August and expectations overall ‘improved’ to -2.0 from [...]

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined 6.8% (-7.5% y/y) during September to 125.1 from a downwardly revised 134.2 in August. A rise to 133.0 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During the last [...]