Economy in Brief: March 2018

Borrowing in U.S. financial markets slowed in Q4 2017, according to the Federal Reserve's Financial Accounts data, which show debt issuance of $2,011 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. This is just over half of the Q3 [...]

German orders are still growing rapidly after their sharp plunge in January. Year-on-year growth is 8.3% overall, 9.5% for foreign orders and 6.6% for domestic orders. But momentum has been sharply reduced with three-month and six- [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index gained 0.3% last week (-5.3% y/y) following a 2.7% increase during the prior week. Purchase loan applications slipped 0.5% (+1.4% y/y) [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims increased to 231,000 (-7.2% y/y) during the week ended March 3. Claims during the prior week were unrevised at 210,000, the lowest level since December 1969. Expectations in the Action Economics [...]

Consumer credit outstanding increased $13.89 billion (5.3% y/y) during January following a $19.21 billion December rise, revised from $18.44 billion. It was the weakest monthly increase since September. An $18.0 billion rise had been [...]

French trade trends show a bigger current account deficit in January and a larger deficit on trade. Exports fell in January as imports rose. Over three months trade trends have reversed as imports are outpacing exports unlike the [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened to $56.6 billion in January from $53.9 billion in December, revised from $53.1 billion. A $54.1 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Exports [...]

Output per hour in the nonfarm business sector remained stable (revised from -0.1%) during Q4'17 following a 2.6% Q3 rise. A 0.1% slip had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Output rose at a 3.2% rate (3.2% y/y) [...]