Economy in Brief

Gasoline prices fell to an average $2.37 per gallon (-3.3% y/y) from $2.42 last week. Prices have fallen from an average high of $2.90 early last month to currently the lowest level since August 2017. Haver Analytics constructs [...]

Total housing starts rose 3.2% (-3.6% y/y) during November to 1.256 million (AR) from 1.217 million in October, revised from 1.228 million. The level exceeded expectations for 1.230 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo declined to 56 during December, its lowest level since May 2015. The figure compared to the expansion high of 74 in December of last year. [...]

Trade flows are rebounding on differing dynamics in the euro area. The aggregate results (see Chart) show year-on-year flows sharply higher in October compared to the previous month's rate of growth. Monthly changes show solid gains [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions declined to 10.9 in December, the lowest level since May 2017. Nonetheless, for the year as a whole, the index stood at the highest level since 2006. The Action [...]

Industrial production rose 0.1% (4.1% y/y) during October following a 0.2% September improvement......... Capacity utilization eased to 78.4% Industrial production and capacity data are included in Haver's USECON database, with [...]

Total business inventories increased 0.6% (5.1% y/y) during October following two months of 0.5% gain. Total business sales rose a steady 0.3% (8.0% y/y). The inventory-to-sales ratio increased minimally to 1.35, but remained below [...]

Industrial production jumped a greater-than-expected 0.6% (3.9% year-on-year) during November following a downwardly revised 0.2% decline in October (was +0.1%). The 0.1% gain in September output was revised from 0.2%. The Action [...]