Economy in Brief: April 2014

Central banking has been through a number of ups and downs. Currently central bankers are under a good deal of pressure for the regulatory missteps during the financial crisis as well as what are construed by some as inappropriate [...]

Import prices increased 0.6% (-0.6% y/y) during March following an unrevised 0.9% February rise. A 0.2% rise had been expected in the Action Economics survey. A 0.6% improvement (0.1% y/y) in nonpetroleum prices led the pricing [...]

The recovery in the labor market reached a milestone as initial claims for jobless insurance fell to 300,000 last week, the lowest level since May 2007. The decline was from 332,000 during the week of March 29, revised from 326,000. [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance rebounded to 326,000 during the week ended March 29 from a little-revised 310,000 in the prior week. Expectations had been for 317,000 claims in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The four- [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level increased 0.5% (4.7% y/y) during February following a 0.8% January jump. The strength owed to a 0.7% rise (5.9% y/y) in the durable goods sector. That was driven by a 2.2% jump (5.6% y/y) in computer [...]

German goods exports dove lower in February, dropping by 1.3% after a strong gain of 2.2% in January. Imports continued to rise with a moderate 0.4% gain after a surge of 4.1% in January. These forces combined to shrink the German [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index fell 1.6% last week (-57.5% y/y) following an unrevised 1.2% drop during the prior week. Applications were roughly two-thirds below the peak in [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the job openings rate improved to 2.9% during February versus a downwardly revised 2.7% in January. The latest level reached the high for [...]