Economy in Brief

Japan's current account surplus rose to 550 billion yen in April from 170 billion yen in March. The surplus is the largest in 14 months. Nominal exports rose by 4.6% reversing decline for the month while imports posted their second [...]

The euro area trade surplus expanded to 21.24 billion euros in March from 20.93 billion euros in February. Exports rose by 0.8% in the month while imports rose by 0.7%. However, over three months, both exports and imports are falling. [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index fell 2.7% (-5.6% y/y) last week, following a 0.4% slip during the prior week. Purchase loan applications declined 2.1% (+3.6% y/y), after [...]

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.4% last month, the same as during March which was revised from 0.3%. The y/y change strengthened to 6.4% from 4.1% during all of last year. The latest [...]

European car registrations fell sharply in April with a 7.1% drop, marking their second drop in the last three months for what is intrinsically a volatile series. Sequential growth rates, comparing 12-month to six-month to three-month [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index jumped to 34.4 during May, the highest level in a year. Expectations had been for a reading of 21.0 in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Initial claims for unemployment insurance edged slightly higher last week to 222,000 (-6.7% y/y) in the week ended May 12 versus an unrevised 211,000 in the prior week. Claims were expected to rise to 215,000 in the Action Economics [...]

EMU core and headline inflation rates continue to grow at rates that are at a significant discount to their objective (which is just a bit below 2%). Headline inflation grew by 0.3% in April, but the core only rose by 0.1%. Still, [...]