Economy in Brief: November 2019

Initial applications for unemployment insurance fell to 211,000 (-4.3% y/y) during the week ended November 2 from 219,000 in the prior week, revised from 218,000. It was the lowest number of claims in four weeks. The Action Economics [...]

Both German orders and the EU Commission's PMI gauges for the EMU show a modest upturn in their recent releases. Both fared slightly better than expected. Both are still significantly weak; the sense of overachievement will not merit [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its Mortgage Loan Index slipped 0.1% (+58.5% y/y) in the week ending November 1 after rising 0.6% w/w in the previous week. Purchase applications fell 2.5% w/w (+6.6% y/y) and reversed [...]

Productivity in the nonfarm business sector eased 0.3% at an annual rate (+1.4% y/y) during Q3'19 following a 2.5% Q2 rise, revised from 2.3%. It was the first decline in productivity since Q4'15. Expectations had been for a 0.9% rise [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services declined to $52.45 billion in September from a little-revised 55.04 billion in August. A $52.5 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Exports eased 0.9% [...]

The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services declined to $52.45 billion in September from a little-revised $55.04 billion in August. A $52.5 billion deficit had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Exports eased 0.9% [...]

Retail gasoline prices ticked up to $2.61 per gallon last week (-5.4% year-on-year) from $2.60 in the previous week, Gasoline prices have been range-bound since early August. Haver Analytics constructs factors adjusting for the [...]

The Composite Index of Nonmanufacturing Sector Activity from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) increased more than expected to 54.7 during October from 52.6 in September. August's reading was 56.4. Despite October's rise, the [...]