Economy in Brief: December 2011

The U.S. foreign trade shortfall lessened for the fourth consecutive month during October.

Inventories at the wholesale level jumped 1.6% (10.9% y/y) during October following no change in September. The increase was led by a 5.7% surge (13.5% y/y) in petroleum which reversed the prior month's decline. Less petroleum, [...]

Signs of labor market improvement are building. Initial claims for jobless insurance rose fell sharply last week to 381,000 from 404,000 (revised from 402,000) during the week prior. The latest reading was the lowest since February [...]

Consumers are using credit to enhance their buying power. The Federal Reserve reported that overall consumer credit expanded $7.7B in October following a revised $6.8B increase during September, initially reported as $7.4B. A $7.0B [...]

The index of total mortgage applications increased 12.8% last week to 650.4 (March 16, 1990 = 100). While the rise reversed most of the prior week's decline, the most recent trend in applications still was down. Applications to [...]

Four more countries--Brazil, Slovakia, Romania and South Korea released third quarter gross domestic product data today. Three, South Korea, Slovakia and Brazil showed slow downs in activity. The economy of Brazil actually showed a [...]

Following a strong November, chain store sales fell 2.3% last week (+3.8% y/y) and were 1.4% below the November average. During the last ten years there has been a 66% correlation between the y/y change in chain store sales and the [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline fell another two cents last week to $3.29 per gallon. Prices were the lowest since February when they averaged $3.21. Retail prices usually start to ease this time of year with reduced seasonal [...]