Economy in Brief: April 2013

The index of total mortgage applications from the Mortgage Banker Association declined 4.0% (+13.7% y/y) last week and reversed much of the prior week's rise. The latest decline was led by a 5.6% decline (+17.1% y/y) in applications [...]

The Composite Index for the service and construction sectors from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) declined significantly to 54.4 last month from 56.0 during February. This latest level was the lowest since August and [...]

There is no arguing with the fact that EMU inflation is turning lower. One year ago EMU's Year-over-year inflation rate was 2.6% - high by the standards of the ECB but hardly bristling. In March of 2013, one year later, the pace is [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that growth in private sector jobs eased last month to its least since October. The 158,000 gain (1.7% y/y) followed a 238,000 February increase, initially reported as 198,000. Last [...]

Vehicle sales have been firm for five months at the highest level since early-2008. During March, unit sales of light motor vehicles slipped 0.7% m/m (+8.0% y/y) to 15.27M (SAAR) according to the Autodata Corporation. Sales matched [...]

Finalized manufacturing PMIs for the European monetary union fell in March by 1.18 points. Of the nine countries that provide independent topical readings for the manufacturing sectors, eight of nine show declines in March compared to [...]

Orders to all manufacturers increased an expected 3.0% (2.7% y/y) during February, following a 1.0% January decline, revised from -2.0%. A 5.6% rebound (3.9% y/y) in durable goods bookings, little-revised from the advance report, led [...]

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs reported that chain store sales surged 4.7% last week (2.3% y/y) to the highest level on record. The gain pulled March sales 2.6% above the February average which ticked [...]