Economy in Brief: 2013

The economic recovery continues to strengthen the labor market. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 339,000 (-11.0% y/y) during the week ended April 20 from a revised 355,000 during the prior week, initially reported as [...]

The IFO index, a survey of the German economy, fell sharply from a +6 reading in March to a reading of 1.5 in April. While a small positive number, the 1.5 reading stands in the 66.7 percentile or the top third of its historic range. [...]

The index of total mortgage applications from the Mortgage Bankers Association nudged up 0.2% (24.4% y/y) last week. The rise reflected a 0.3% gain (26.6% y/y) in applications to refinance an existing loan. Home purchase mortgage [...]

Total durable goods orders during March fell 5.7% (+0.5% y/y) following a downwardly revised 4.3% increase in February. A 3.0% decline had been expected. Last month's decline was led by a 15.0% drop (+2.5% y/y) in transportation [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing and Finance Agency (FHFA) rose 0.7% during February, following four consecutive months of similar increase. The 7.1% y/y rise was its strongest since the middle of 2006; it followed [...]

New home sales increased 1.5% (18.5% y/y) last month to 417,000 (AR) from an unrevised 411,000 during February. The rise roughly matched Consensus expectations for sales of 420,000. Sales were mixed m/m throughout the country. New [...]

The euro-zone's private sector economy remains under pressure in April. The manufacturing PMI index fell slightly to 46.48 in April from 46.75 in March. At this level the manufacturing index historically has been weaker only about [...]

The price of regular gasoline held last week at $3.54 per gallon (-8.6% y/y). That followed eight weeks of decline from a $3.78 per gallon peak. The norm for this time of year, as driving picks up seasonally, is for prices to begin [...]