Economy in Brief: February 2018

Initial claims foe jobless insurance fell to 221,000 (-6.8% y/y) during the week ended February 3 from an unrevised 230,000 claims in the prior week. Expectations had been for 234,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $18.44 billion during December following a $31.03 billion November rise and a $22.99 billion October gain, revised from $27.96 billion and $20.53 billion. It was the weakest monthly increase since [...]

Despite falling in two of the last three months, Germany's industrial production is still advancing at 5% annual rate over those same three months. That growth rate indicates a very slight slowing trend for German IP which is up by [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index rose 0.7% last week (5.8% y/y) following a 2.6% decline during the prior week. Purchase loan applications were stable (9.3% y/y) following a [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate in November fell to 3.8%, its lowest level in six months. The hiring rate also fell slightly to 3.7% from the expansion high of 3.8%. These figures are from the [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate in November fell to 3.8%, its lowest level in six months. The hiring rate also fell slightly to 3.7% from the expansion high of 3.8%. These figures are from the [...]

Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.64 per gallon (15.0% y/y) last week from $2.61 per gallon. They remained at the highest level since mid-September. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in [...]

German orders are hopped up on foreign demand. In December foreign orders surged, rising by 5.9%, as domestic orders waddled ahead by 0.7%. Still, both foreign and domestic orders are accelerating from 12-month to six-month to three- [...]