Economy in Brief

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector was revised up to a 2.3% gain at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in Q3'18 (1.3% year-over-year), from the previously reported 2.2% increase. In Q2 productivity growth remained at a 3.0% [...]

The ADP National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls increased 179,000 during November following a 225,000 October rise, revised from 227,000. Expectations had been for a 195,000 gain in the Action Economics [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 4,000 to 231,000 (-1.7% y/y) during the week ended December 1 from 235,000 in the previous week, which was revised up by 1,000. As was noted here last week, even though the data are [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened for the fifth consecutive month to $55.49 billion in October from an upwardly revised $54.56 billion in September. This was the largest deficit since October 2008. A deficit of [...]

Germany's factory orders in October rose instead of falling as expected, but the gain was only of 0.3% and it reflected widely different results on domestic vs. international orders. Foreign orders rose by 2.9% in October while [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index rose 2.0% (-16.6% y/y) during the week ended November 30 following a 5.5% rise during the prior week. Applications to refinance a mortgage [...]

Gasoline prices fell to an average $2.45 per gallon (-2.0% y/y) from $2.54 during last week. Prices have fallen from an average high of $2.90 early last month, to the lowest level since December 2017. Haver Analytics constructs [...]

Sales of light vehicles eased 0.2% (-0.8% y/y) during November to 17.49 million units (SAAR), but remained near the highest level in twelve months. Passenger car sales declined 4.8% (-14.5% y/y) last month to 5.37 million units and [...]