Economy in Brief: 2015

Initial unemployment insurance claims moved up 320,000 during the week ended February 28 from an unrevised 313,000 in the prior week. It was the highest level of claims since the middle of May 2014. The four-week moving average of [...]

Italy continues to struggle. Its GDP fell in Q4 and is net lower year-over-year. GDP in Italy is falling as fast year-over-year in Q4 as it was in Q3. That is not progress. Public consumption rose at a 1.7% annual rate in Q4 2014 but [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that their total Mortgage Market Volume Index ticked 0.1% higher last week (10.3% y/y). Applications are down 25.1% during the last six weeks. Refinance applications improved 0.5% (17.1% y/y). [...]

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) composite index of nonmanufacturing sector activity nudged higher to 56.9 during February from an unrevised 56.7 in January. Nevertheless, the latest numbers remained well below the highs of [...]

The ADP/Moody's National Employment Report indicated that nonfarm private sector payrolls increased 212,000 last month (2.5% y/y). January's gain of 250,000 was revised from 213,000 while December's increase of 275,000 was revised [...]

The finalization of the EMU PMI indexes brought slightly weaker values to the report. Still, both the manufacturing and services sectors of the EMU are improving in February compared to their January values and each sector is showing [...]

Consumer's continue to shy away from auto dealerships. Sales of light vehicles declined 2.6% during February to 16.23 million (AR) from 16.66 million in January. It was the third straight month of decline. Sales have moved erratically [...]

The Institute for Supply Management reported that, for New York State, their February index of business conditions expected in six months increased to 71.7 and made up most of the prior month's decline. In addition, the reading for [...]