Economy in Brief: January 2012

Earlier workforce improvement seems to have stuttered. Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 399,000 last week from 375,000 the week earlier (revised from 372,000). The latest reading was the highest reading since the [...]

Consumers took a break from raising spending last month. Total retail sales ticked up 0.1% (6.5% y/y) during December following a revised 0.4% November increase, last month reported as 0.2%. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.3% [...]

Consumers took a break from raising spending last month. Total retail sales ticked up 0.1% (6.5% y/y) during December following a revised 0.4% November increase, last month reported as 0.2%. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.3% [...]

The index of total mortgage applications rose 4.5% last week to 663.1 (March 16, 1990 = 100). The increase followed the prior week's 4.1% decline and the index has moved irregularly sideways since October. Applications to refinance [...]

The Household Employment Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated job market improvement last month. However, while the official unemployment rate of 8.5% was well below its October '09 high of 10.0%, the picture was not [...]

China's seasonally adjusted trade surplus increased $9.6 billion in December to $13.5 billion from $3.9 in November. Exports were down $1.6 billion from $165.4 billion in November to $163.9 billion in December. The chief source of the [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline rose another eight cents last week to $3.38 per gallon following the prior week's four cent gain. Retail prices usually decline this time of year with reduced seasonal demand. To account for this [...]

Small businesses are gaining more confidence in the economy. The National Federation of Independent Business indicated that its December index of small business optimism rose to 93.8 from an unrevised 92.0 in November. The latest [...]