Economy in Brief: August 2015

The Federal Government reported a $149.2 billion budget deficit during July compared to a $94.6 billion deficit during July of 2014. A $129.8 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. For the first ten [...]

The job openings rate during June held steady at 3.6% for the third straight month, just below the series' high of 3.8% in January 2001. The rate is improved from the low of 1.6% in July 2009. The job openings rate is the number of [...]

Industrial output (excluding construction) fell in the EMU in June, dropping by 0.4%. This is the second consecutive monthly drop. These drops follow a monthly gain of just 0.1% in April. IP in the EMU has been steadily decelerating [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index notched 0.1% higher last week (17.9% y/y) and remained near the level of late-May. Purchase applications fell 3.5% (+20.1% y/y) while applications [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level increased 0.9% during June (5.4% y/y) following a 0.6% May gain, revised from 0.8%. The rise was paced by a 2.0% jump (15.0% y/y) in automotive products inventories and a 1.5% rise in furniture (7.8% [...]

Gasoline prices at the pump fell to an average $2.63 per gallon (-25.0% y/y) last week, the lowest level since late-April. This summer's high in prices was $2.84 per gallon reached in mid-June. Haver Analytics constructs factors [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index strengthened to 95.4 during July after falling to an unrevised decline to 94.1 in June. The reading was the lowest since September of last [...]

Nonfarm productivity increased 1.3% during Q2'15 (SAAR, 0.3% y/y), about as expected, following a 1.1% decline earlier this year, revised from -3.1%. Productivity fell a little-changed 2.2% in Q4'14. Last year's 0.7% rise was [...]