Economy in Brief

The National Association of Realtors reported that the Composite Index of Home Affordability declined 8.8% y/y during June to 134.8, the lowest level since August 2008. The index was 37.3% below its peak in January 2013. Together, [...]

While the Bank of France saw enough in its monthly survey to announce that it was consistent with a small pick-up in GDP growth in Q3, the total industry index fell in July, dropping to 100.9 from June’s 101.4. That same survey [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Index fell 3.0% last week (-18.2% y/y) following a 2.6% drop during the prior week. It was the fourth consecutive weekly decline and left the level of [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $10.20 billion (4.7% y/y) during June following a $24.27 billion rise in May, revised from $24.56 billion. The $16.0 billion gain had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During [...]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate during June held steady m/m at 4.3%. It remained higher than the 4.0% rate twelve months earlier. (The job openings rate is the job openings level as a percent [...]

Germany's industrial production has been oscillating monthly. Output has fallen month-to-month in seven of the last ten months. But IP weakness has been greatest from January to April during this period. As we try to track the impact [...]

Retail gasoline prices remained at $2.85 per gallon last week, up 16.5% from $2.45 at the end of last year. Haver Analytics constructs factors to adjust for the marked seasonal variation in prices. The seasonally-adjusted gasoline [...]

One of the great economic mysteries of the past 20 years has been the lack of cyclical pressure in core consumer price inflation. The answers to this mystery are from being merely academic since the stance of monetary policy is now [...]