Economy in Brief

Initial unemployment insurance claims were steady at 245,000 (-5.0% y/y) in the week ended December 23. Expectations in the Action Economics Forecast Survey had been for 240,000 claims. The four-week moving average edged higher to [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending home sales increased 0.2% (0.8% y/y) during November to an index level of 109.5 (2001=100). This followed their 3.5% jump in October. Sales were 3.6% below their recent [...]

It is always good to maintain some perspective. Spain's retail sales are expanding and sequentially accelerating for nominal sales as well as for real sales. But the sense of acceleration is modest, especially for real sales. Two [...]

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell 5.1% in December (7.8% y/y) to 122.1 following a downward revised 1.9% rise in November. This move contrasted with the Action Economics survey forecast of 128.0. The indexes are [...]

New orders for durable goods rebounded somewhat in November, 1.3% (8.2% y/y), after October's 0.4% decline; that was revised from -1.2% reported initially. Market expectations, evidenced in the Action Economics Forecast Survey, had [...]

Sales of new single-family homes jumped 17.5% (26.6% y/y) to 733,000 (SAAR) during November following 624,000 sales in October, revised from 685,000. Sales were at the highest level since July 2007. Expectations in the Action [...]

Personal consumption expenditures increased 0.6% (4.5% y/y during November following a 0.2% October gain, revised from 0.3%. A 0.4% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Adjusted for price inflation, personal [...]

GfK estimates German confidence for the month ahead. For January 2018, GfK sees a rise in confidence to just short of an all-time high. This only entails a 0.1 tick higher in January. Still, the message is that German confidence, high [...]