Economy in Brief: December 2016

Relatively sluggish economic conditions in the U.S. continue to be reflected in moderation in the use of credit. Total borrowing in the U.S. was $2,895 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in Q3, up from $2,414 billion in Q2, [...]

Improvement in factory output worldwide has given life to industrial commodity prices. The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) increased 4.9% during the last [...]

The OECD itself reports the following analytical assessment of its release this month: * Signs of growth gaining momentum have emerged in the CLIs for the United States, Canada, Germany, and France. In the United Kingdom, there are [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims declined to 258,000 (-7.5% y/y) in the week ended December 3 following an unrevised increase to 268,000 in the prior week. Expectations had been for 255,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $16.0 during October (6.6% y/y) following a $21.8 billion rise in September, revised from $19.3 billion. A $19.0 billion increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Over [...]

The total job openings rate stood at 3.7% during October, unchanged from September. It remained down from the record high of 3.9% in July. The private-sector job openings rate fell, however, to 3.9% from 4.0%, but was up slightly from [...]

Germany's industrial production has come through another period of relative turbulence. IP rose by 3.0% in August, fell by 1.6% in September, and expanded by a modest 0.3% in October. The upshot of these turbulent rates of growth is a [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index declined 0.7% last week (-2.4% y/y) to the lowest level since the first week of January. Refinancing applications fell 0.7% (-7.1% y/y), also to the [...]