Overview: The President released his FY 2012 budget, calling for $3.82 trillion in spending and a $1.65 trillion deficit in FY 2011.  Retail sales rose 0.3% in January.  Business inventories increased 0.8% in December.  Housing starts were up 14.6% in January as building permits fell 10.4%.  Industrial production edged down 0.1% in January.  The topline CPI rose 0.4% in January; the core CPI increased 0.2%. Initial jobless claims rose by 25,000 to a level of 410,000 for the week ended 2/12.

• The President released his FY 2012 budget, including $3.82 trillion in spending and a $1.65 trillion deficit for FY 2011.  The President proposes total spending of $45.953 trillion from 2012-2021—this is $102 billion, or 0.2%, lower than the CBO baseline for that period. Erskine Bowles, the Democrat Chair of the President’s Fiscal Commission, said that the President’s budget goes, “Nowhere near where they will have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare.”   
• Retail sales rose 0.3% in January, or about half of the increase that was expected.   
• Business inventories increased 0.8% in December.   
• Housing starts jumped 14.6% to an annual pace of 596,000 units in January.   
• Building permits declined 10.4% to an annual pace of 562,000 in January.   
• Despite expectations for an increase, industrial production edged down 0.1% in January.      
• The topline CPI rose 0.4% in January while the core CPI rose by half that much (0.2%). 
• Initial jobless claims rose by 25,000 to 410,000 for the week ended February 12^th.