Economy in Brief: July 2016

Germany's trade surplus contracted slightly in May, but the surplus remains huge. German exports fell by 1.8%, marking their largest drop in nine months. German imports ticked higher by only 0.1% in May after a 0.3% decline in April. [...]

Nonfarm payrolls grew 287,000 during June, a figure boosted as roughly 35,000 Verizon workers returned from strike. Employment increased 11,000 in May, revised from 38,000 and April's gain was revised to 144,000 from 123,000. [...]

The outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that job cut announcements during June rose to 38,536 (-14.1% y/y) following May's sharp decline to 30,157. Layoffs increased in the aerospace/defense, automotive, [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance claims declined 16,000 to 254,000 (-12.0% y/y) during the week ended July 2 from 270,000 in the prior week, revised from 268,000. It was the lowest level since mid-April. The Action Economics [...]

Weakness on the doorstep and Brexit looms German IP dropped 1.3% in May, marking its third drop in four months as well as its fifth drop in seven months. The IP drops in May and March are large, each in excess of 1%, while the April [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls rose 172,000 during June following a 168,000 May increase, revised from 173,000. During all of last quarter, payrolls rose an average 163,000 [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Market Volume Index jumped 14.2% last week (51.4% y/y) to the highest level since June 2013. Purchase applications increased 4.3% (10.5% y/y) while refinancing [...]

Regular gasoline prices fell to $2.29 per gallon last week (-18.0% y/y), down from $2.40 early last month, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Nevertheless, prices remained near the highest level since early September. Prices [...]