Mortgage applications in the U.S. rose last week to the highest level in three months. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications for the week ending April 3 increased 4.7% to 1,250.6 from 1.194.4 the previous week. Purchase volume rose 11% to 297.7, while refinancing applications jumped 3.2% to 6,813.5.
According to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index, retail sales rose 0.6% in the week ending April 4. This follows a strong 1.1% growth in the week ending March 28. On a year-on-year basis, retailers saw sales decline by 0.3% from the week ending April 4.
According to the Federal Reserve, consumer debt fell in February by $7.48 billion, or 3.5% at an annual rate. Economists had forecast consumer debt would drop $3 billion in February. Total consumer credit debt in February was $2.56 trillion. In a separate report, Moody’s Investors Service stated that uncollected credit card debt rose to 8.82% in February, the most in 20 years.
Wholesale sales rose in February for the first time in eight months. Overall wholesale sales increased 0.6% and the sale of wholesale durable goods jumped 2%. Meanwhile, wholesalers reduced their inventories by 1.5% in February. The decline was more than twice as much as the 0.7% forecasted and the steepest since recordkeeping began in January 1992.
The Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 20,000 to 654,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 674,000. The decrease in the week ending April 4 was better than expected. Economists had anticipated claims to drop to 660,000. The number of people continuing to claim jobless benefits rose to 5.84 million from 5.75 million in the prior week.
Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on retail sales on April 14, housing market index on April 15 and housing starts on April 16.
