Economy in Brief

The Composite Housing Market Index from the National Association of Home Builders-Wells Fargo fell 4.2% to 68 during April and reversed half of the prior month's increase. Despite the decline, the index remained 17.2% higher y/y. The [...]

The Empire State Manufacturing Index of General Business Conditions for April fell to 5.2 from 16.4 in March. It was the weakest reading since November. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 15.0. These data, reported by the [...]

Business sales rose 0.2% m/m (7.1% y/y) in February versus a 0.3% monthly gain in January. For the major sectors, retail sales slipped 0.3% m/m (5.3% y/y) in February while both wholesale sales and manufacturing shipments increased. [...]

Pricing pressure evaporated last month. The Consumer Price Index fell 0.3% during March, the first monthly decline since February 2016. Prices were expected to remain stable in the Action Economic Forecast Survey. The breadth of the [...]

Total retail sales and spending at restaurants fell 0.2% (5.2% y/y) in March following a 0.3% decrease in February; that was revised from +0.1% reported initially. The Action Economics Forecast Survey anticipated that March sales [...]

Japan's industrial output has bounced strongly in February, gaining 3.2% after a 2.1% January drop and making gains in two of the last three months. Combined mining and manufacturing output has growth rates skimming along at or above [...]

In March, all of the original EMU members have at least reported headline inflation indexes except Austria which is left out of this table. What we see is that, as of March, Germany, the country traditionally running the lowest [...]

Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 234,000 during the week ended April 8 (-9.3% y/y) from 235,000 in the prior week, revised from 234,000. It was the lowest level of claims in six weeks. Expectations had been for 245,000 [...]