Economy in Brief

The EMU trade surplus popped up again, reversing part of last month's drop. Still, the surplus appears to be on a declining path. Apart from last month, this month's surplus is the smallest in 16 months. However, it is too soon to [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its total Mortgage Applications Volume Index declined 1.8% last week (-24.9% y/y) in the week of April 14, more than reversing the 1.5% w/w rise in the preceding week. Refinancing [...]

Housing starts during March declined 6.8% to 1.215 million (AR), and retraced all of February's increase to 1.303 million, revised from 1.288 million. Expectations had been for 1.256 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Regular gasoline prices increased to $2.44 per gallon last week (14.0% y/y), up versus $1.76 per gallon during February 2016. Prices remained lower than the 2014 high of $3.71 per gallon. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting [...]

Industrial production strengthened 0.5% during March (1.6% y/y) following a 0.1% February uptick, revised from no change. A 0.4% increase had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Earlier figures reflect benchmark [...]

Ireland showed a sharp gain in exports and a particularly explosive gain in imports in February. The import surge comes on the heels of a previous monthly collapse which takes all of the lift out of this latest gain. The sequential [...]

Housing starts during March declined 6.8% to 1.215 million (AR), and retraced all of February's increase to 1.303 million, revised from 1.288 million. Expectations had been for 1.256 million starts in the Action Economics Forecast [...]

Pursuant to the 2015 Act, Treasury in its report has found that no major trading partner met all three criteria for the current reporting period to be named a currency manipulator. Treasury also concludes that no major trading partner [...]