Economy in Brief: 2012

Signs of labor market improvement continue to be evident. Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 358,000 last week. The decline was from 373,000 during the week prior (revised from 367,000) and compared to Consensus [...]

German exports and imports are locked in clear withering trends. The trends in the table all show a loss in momentum and a number of trends show negative growth has emerged not just slower positive growth. Germany is a very trade- [...]

The index of total mortgage applications rose 7.5% last week to 810.0 (March 16, 1990 = 100), nearly the highest since late 2010. The rise followed two weeks of moderate decline. Continuing to take advantage of low interest rates, [...]

Recent increases in consumers' sense of well-being have encouraged them to make more liberal use of credit. Reported late yesterday, consumer credit outstanding jumped another $19.3B during December after an unrevised $20.4B November [...]

The German IG Metall Union announced today that it would seek a 6.5% wage rise for its members for the coming year beginning April 1st. While a 6.5% wage increase seems unrealistic in the face of a slowing economy, it should be noted [...]

Another sign of economic improvement came in today's report that the December job openings rate improved to 2.5%, the recovery's high, after two months of decline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are in its Job Openings & Labor [...]

Chain store sales rose 1.8% last week (3.5% y/y) following a weak post-Christmas selling period. January sales fell 3.3% after a 1.2% December rise. During the last ten years there has been a 72% correlation between the y/y change in [...]

The pump price for regular gasoline rose again, last week to $3.48 per gallon which is up roughly ten cents during the last two weeks. Retail prices usually decline this time of year with reduced seasonal demand. To account for this [...]