Economy in Brief: September 2017

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index jumped 9.9% (-19.3% y/y) in the week ended September 8 following a 3.3% rise in the prior week. Purchase applications increased 10.9% (6.2% [...]

The headline Final Demand Producer Price Index using new methodology increased 0.2% during August (2.4% y/y) after a 0.1% July dip. A 0.3% rise in the index had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The PPI excluding [...]

EMU industrial production growth is in a range of 2.7% to 3.4% on its sequential annualized growth rates over three months to six months to 12 months; that is a pretty solid habitat. For manufacturing, the range is 3.3% to 3.9%, even [...]

Regular gasoline prices at the pump rose to $2.69 per gallon last week (21.9% y/y), and added to the prior week's jump to the highest level since August 2015. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate held at 4.0% during July following June's unrevised improvement from 3.8% in May. It continued to equal the record. The hiring rate increased to 3.8%, its [...]

The U.K. CPIH inflation rate rose by to 2.7% over 12 months from 2.5% last month. The HICP headline rose to 2.9% from 2.6% last month. The CPIH also gained 0.2% in August with the ex-energy rate up to 0.3%. HICP U.K. inflation gained [...]

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index improved to 105.3 during August following a 1.6 point July jump to 105.2. The latest level was the highest since February, up 11.5% y/y. [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) increased 1.8% during the last four weeks and gained 13.4% during the last twelve months. During all of last year prices [...]