Economy in Brief: 2012

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo reported that its index of housing market activity remained at its highest level since June of 2007. The Composite Housing Market Index for March was unchanged at 28 following [...]

The EMU trade surplus has fallen off month to month but the recent surplus still is large. In EMU domestic demand is collapsing and with it import volume is contacting. Weaker imports have helped even weakening export trends to create [...]

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment for mid-March fell to 74.3 from 75.3 in February. The figure compared to expectations for improvement to 76.0. A decline in consumer expectations led this month's weakness with [...]

The weather can immensely impact factory output, and during the last few months that was notably true. Industrial production was unchanged last month (4.0% y/y) following a revised 0.4% January rise, initially reported as no change. [...]

The chart offers clear snap shot of how much UK PPI inflation has oscillated up and down since the financial crisis/recession. But it mostly has been too high UK PPI inflation is running at 4.1% Yr/Yr. Core inflation is lower 3% [...]

Consumer prices rose during February by the most since last April. The CPI matched expectations and increased 0.4% following a 0.2% January rise. The quicker rate of increase was due to a 3.2% gain in energy prices. Food prices ticked [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's General Business Conditions Index rose in March to its highest level since last April. The index rose to 12.5 from 10.2 in February and the figures have been positive for six consecutive months. [...]

The Empire State Factory Index of General Business Conditions for March rose to 20.21 from February's unrevised 19.53. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicated that the index remained at its highest level since June 2010. [...]