Economy in Brief: February 2019

The German trade surplus widened to 19.38 billion euros in December from 18.84 billion euros in November. It was only slightly smaller than its 20.77 billion euro surplus of 12 months ago. While German industrial data are showing [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $16.54 billion (4.9% y/y) to $4.010 trillion during December following a $22.40 billion November rise, revised from $22.16 billion. A $17.5 billion gain had been expected in the Action Economics [...]

Four blood-lettings and a funeral? Germany's industrial production has fallen in each of the last four months. Can a recession be far behind? German indicators are screaming in unison about the onset of economic weakness. The [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims declined to 234,000 in the week ended February 2 after a jump to an unrevised 253,000 during the prior week. The shortfall reversed nearly half of the previous week's increase to the highest level [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index fell 2.5% (-9.0% y/y) during the week ended February 1, about the same as during the prior two weeks. These declines followed sharp increases early [...]

German industrial orders fell for the second month in a row. The drop produced the second substantial drop in a row for foreign orders as well with declines of 2.3% m/m in both December and November. Domestic orders fell by 0.6% in [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services lessened to $49.31 during November from $55.70 billion in October, revised from $55.49 billion. A deficit of $54.0 billion had been expected by the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Exports [...]

The beat goes on…only it is much fainter than it has been, sort of like Sonny without Cher. Growth does remain in gear, but it is some of the weakest we have seen in the last four years and that is what the rank/queue standings in the [...]