Economy in Brief

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened slightly in March to $50.0 billion from $49.3 billion in February. This was spot on expectations of a $50.0 billion deficit from the Action Economics Survey. Exports rose 1.0% m/m [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance declined 2,000 to 228,000 (+8.1% year-on-year) during the week ended May 4 from an unrevised reading of 230,000 in the previous week. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected claims to [...]

Germany's industrial production has sprung into action with a strong March reading but without much in the way of support from other industrial indicators. The weight of evidence from German manufacturing and industrial indicators is [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index gained 2.7% (8.0% y/y) during the week ending May 3. It was the first increase in five weeks. Applications to purchase a home rose 4.2% (4.9% y/y), [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $10.27 billion (5.0% y/y) during March, less than the $15.47 billion February addition, revised from $15.18 billion. It was the smallest rise in nine months and lessened three-month growth to 4.4% [...]

Germany's real orders continue to run weak. Orders rose by 0.6% in March, a weak rebound from a 4% decline in February and a 2.1% drop in January. Foreign orders gained a solid 4.2% (still unimpressive in the wake of a 5.8% February [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate rebounded to 4.7% during March after declining sharply to 4.5% in February. The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent of total employment plus [...]

Retail gasoline prices improved by one penny last week to $2.90 per gallon (1.8% y/y) after rising five cents during the prior week. It was the highest level since early-October and roughly matched the 2018 high. Haver Analytics [...]