Economy in Brief

Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14 from an unrevised 233,000 in the prior week. Expectations had been for 230,000 initial claims in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April, reversing some of March's decline. Expectations had been for a reading of 21.0 in the Action Economics [...]

While the IMF has just lifted its outlook for growth in 2018, Japan is logging weaker and weaker export and import growth as the year progresses. Asia generally has been lagging. The PMIs in Europe have weakened but are still showing [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index increased 4.9% last week (1.0% y/y), following a 1.9% decline during the prior week. Purchase loan applications increased 6.1% (10.1% y/y) [...]

Retail gasoline prices rebounded to $2.75 per gallon last week (12.8% y/y) following the prior week's one penny drop to $2.69. It was the highest price level since late-July 2015. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

Current conditions indexes in the ZEW framework usually do not change by much month-to-month. That was the case this month as well. But there was substantial degradation in expectations. Fears surrounding the possibility of a trade [...]

The Federal Reserve reported that industrial production increased 0.5% (4.3% y/y) during March following a 1.0% February rise, revised from 1.1%. A 0.4% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Factory sector [...]

Total housing starts in March increased 1.9% to 1.319 million units (SAAR) following February's 3.3% decline to 1.295 million, revised from 1.236 million. A level of 1.260 million starts had been expected in the Action Economic [...]