Economy in Brief: 2019

Activity in the manufacturing sector weakened during May. New orders for durable goods declined 1.3% (-2.8% y/y) following a 2.8% April fall, revised from -2.1%. A 0.1% easing in May orders had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

France in relative terms has been one of the best performing economics in the EMU. The Markit PMI readings for manufacturing have been much higher than in Germany and much more similar to the EMU average, but at those levels the [...]

The market for new homes weakened last month. New home sales declined 7.8% (-3.7% y/y) during May to 626,000 after falling to 679,000 in April, revised from 673,000. Sales of 680,000 had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell a great-than-expected 7.5% to 121.5 in June (-4.4% year-on-year), from a downwardly revised 131.3 in May (was 134.1). This is the lowest reading since September 2017 and well below [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its Nonmanufacturing Business Index of current conditions at the company level declined to 12.2 during June, a second month of sharp decline. These figures remain below the high [...]

The y/y rate of advance in the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Price Index for house purchases showed signs of stabilizing in April. The y/y pace had slowed in each month since last June, but in April it picked up (albeit only [...]

U.S. retail gasoline prices fell for the seventh consecutive week, edging down to $2.65 (-6.3% y/y) per gallon during the week ended June 24 from $2.67 the previous week. Haver Analytics calculates factors that adjust for the seasonal [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index declined to -12.1 during June from -5.3 in May. It was the lowest index reading in three years, down [...]