Economy in Brief: April 2017

The labor market softened this winter. Nonfarm payrolls rose 98,000 (1.6% y/y) during March. The increase followed a 219,000 February rise and a 216,000 January gain. These figures together were revised down by 38,000. Expectations [...]

Inventories at the wholesale level rose 0.4% (+3.3% y/y) during February following an unrevised decrease of 0.2% in January. Durable goods inventories were up 0.2% (+1.7% y/y) after January's 0.2% decline. Motor vehicle stocks added [...]

The labor market softened this winter. Nonfarm payrolls rose 98,000 (1.6% y/y) during March. The increase followed a 219,000 February rise and a 216,000 January gain. These figures together were revised down by 38,000. Expectations [...]

Total orders in Germany rose by 3.4% in February, rebounding from a 6.8% drop that followed a monthly rise of 6.1%. Over the past five months, German orders have been chopping up and down month-to-month as orders oscillated between [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 234,000 (-13.7% y/y) during the week ended April 1 from 259,000 during the prior week, revised from 258,000. It was the lowest level of claims in five weeks. Expectations had been for [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index fell 1.6% last week (-16.0% y/y) following a 0.8% decline during the week prior. Refinancing applications declined 4.2% (-33.3% y/y) following a [...]

The strength in survey data or 'soft-data economic reports' continues in March as the finalized EMU PMI shows a headline, manufacturing reading and a service sector reading that all are on five-year-plus highs (all of these gauges are [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 4.2% (43.0% y/y) last week following a 0.9% rise. Purchase applications surged 8.6% (20.9% y/y) and made up declines during July and [...]