Economy in Brief

Initial claims for unemployment insurance slipped to 214,000 (-11.6% y/y) during the week ended November 3 from 215,000 in the previous week, revised from 214,000. It was the lowest level in 45 years. The Action Economics Forecast [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $10.93 billion (4.8% y/y) during September following a $22.88 billion August increase, revised from $20.07 billion. A $16.5 billion gain had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

Germany's industrial production rose by 0.2% in September as manufacturing output was flat. Overall IP gained 0.8% over 12 months while manufacturing gained only 0.2%. Still, IP is growing and the PMI signal from the Markit gauge is [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index declined 4.0% (-16.4% y/y) last week to the lowest level since December 2014. The decline followed a 2.5% shortfall in the prior week. Purchase loan [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate fell to 4.5% in September from the record of 4.7% in August, revised from 4.6%. The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent of total employment [...]

German (real seasonally adjusted) orders rose by 0.3% in September after a 2.5% gain in August. Orders rose for two months in a row for the first time since December when orders completed a run of five consecutive increases. January [...]

Gasoline prices fell last week to an average $2.75 per gallon (+7.5% y/y) from $2.81 during the prior week. It was the lowest price since mid-April. Prices peaked at $2.96 late in May. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for [...]

U.K. manufacturing has been losing momentum from late 2017. The services sector has fluctuated in a relatively narrow range since late 2016 with a minor eroding trend. In October, the composite index backtracked to 52.1 from 54.1, a [...]