Economy in Brief

The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.4% during November following an unrevised 1.2% jump during October. A 0.4% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Three-month growth [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims rose to 245,000 (-8.9% y/y) in the week ended December 16 from an unrevised 225,000 in the prior week. It was the highest level of claims in five weeks. Expectations had been for 232,000 claims in [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 6.6% y/y in October, up only slightly from a 6.5% y/y increase in September. While this reading is down from the recent peak of 7.1% in April, the annual pace [...]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) index of U.S. house prices rose 6.6% y/y in October, up only slightly from a 6.5% y/y increase in September. While this reading is down from the recent peak of 7.1% in April, the annual pace [...]

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 26.2 in December from 22.7 in November. Expectations had been for a reading of 20.5 in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

France's INSEE index shows that the industry climate has backed off in December to a reading of 112.1 from 112.8 in November. Despite the drop, it is still a strong reading. In fact, it is stronger than every reading previous to [...]

Economic growth was revised to 3.2% (AR, 2.3% y/y) during Q3'17 from a 3.3% second estimate released last month. It was the strongest growth since Q1'15. Expectations had been for 3.3% growth in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index fell 4.9% last week (-8.0% y/y) following a 2.3% drop during the prior week. Purchase loan applications fell 5.5% (+0.8% y/y) following a 1.1% [...]