Economy in Brief

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas indicated in its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey that the General Business Activity Index fell to 28.1 during September, the lowest level in four months. Despite its recent sideways movement, the [...]

The German IFO Institute index has gone sideways in September. The basic indexes that are plotted in the chart show that climate is unchanged at an index value of 105.3. The current situation is slightly weaker on a reading of 108.2, [...]

EMU PMIs soar then sink The EMU PMI sank to its cyclical low in mid-2016 then hit its cycle higher in 2018 as it ran up 5.9 points to its cycle high. In September 2018, the index has fallen back shedding 4.4 points from its peak and [...]

The Industrial Materials Price Index from the Foundation for International Business and Economic Research (FIBER) eased 0.3% during the last four weeks and extended the decline in prices since the peak in the middle of June. The [...]

Borrowing in U.S. financial markets slowed in Q2 2018, according to the Federal Reserve's Financial Accounts data, totaling $2,596 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, compared to $4,512 billion in Q1. The federal government [...]

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes during August were unchanged at 5.340 million (SAAR, -1.5%). July's figure was unrevised. Sales remained at the lowest level since February 2016, down 6.6% [...]

Initial unemployment insurance applications decreased to 201,000 (-21.2% y/y) during the week ended September 15 from 204,000 in the prior week, which was unrevised. This was the smallest number of initial claims since November 15, [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.4% (6.4% y/y) during August after a 0.7% July gain, revised from 0.6%. A 0.5% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The index [...]