Economy in Brief: 2017

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales increased 5.5% in February to an index level of 112.3, the highest point since April 2016. The NAR suggested that warm temperatures helped lift sales. The [...]

Italian business and consumer confidence moved higher in March. Business confidence is on a four-month string of month-to-month improvements. Consumer confidence is making a rebound after falling in both January and February. Business [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index slipped 0.8% last week (-12.4% y/y) following a 2.7% decline during the week prior. Purchase applications increased 1.2% (4.2% y/y) after a 2.1% [...]

German debt level fell outright in Q4 2016 as the ratio of federal debt-to-GDP also fell. Germany has the lowest ratio of debt-to-GDP among the original EMU members with the exception of Luxembourg, a small country that is a financial [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for March strengthened 8.2% (30.7% y/y) to 125.6, the highest level since December 2000. February's level was revised higher to 116.1 from 114.8. The Action Economics Forecast Survey [...]

Regular gasoline prices held steady at $2.32 per gallon last week (12.1% y/y) for the third straight week. Prices remained lower than the 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal [...]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index eased during March, but remained near the highest level of the economic expansion. The production reading [...]

The National Association for Business Economics expects 2.5% real U.S. economic growth in 2018 compared to 2.3% forecast for 2017. The gains follow 1.6% growth in 2016 and a 2015 advance of 2.6%. Quarterly GDP growth is expected to [...]