Economy in Brief: 2015

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index increased 9.5% last week (21.0% y/y) to the highest level since early-February. Refinance applications led the way up with a 12.3% w/w increase [...]

The INSEE survey of French business climate slipped to 99 in March from 100 (in January and February), dipping below its historic mean (100). The reading is now slightly subnormal and below its median (rank % = 50 is its median) and [...]

New orders for durable goods fell 1.4% during February (+0.6% y/y) following a 2.0% January increase, initially estimated as 2.8%. An 8.9% decline (-22.4 y/y) in nondefense aircraft & parts bookings led total orders downward. Total [...]

Gasoline prices ticked 1 cent higher last week to $2.46 cents per gallon. Prices remained well below the $3.70 per gallon peak last June. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the seasonal variation in pump prices. The [...]

The U.S. House Price Index from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) increased 0.3% in January (5.1% y/y) following a 0.7% December rise, which was revised slightly from 0.8% reported initially. The three-month gain in prices [...]

New home sales during February increased to 539,000 from 500,000 in January, initially reported as 481,000. The latest figure was the highest since February 2008 and surpassed expectations for 470,000 sales in the Action Economics [...]

The euro area economic recovery continues to be led by the services sector recovery. Not only are the PMI diffusion values higher for services than for manufacturing, but the queue standings show that they are relatively much stronger [...]

The consumer price index gained 0.2% (0.0% y/y), the first increase in four months. While the rise matched expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey, a 0.2% increase in the core price index surpassed the average forecast [...]