Weekly Economic Update: April 21-25, 2014
Existing home sales fell 0.2% in March to an annual rate of 4.59 million units. New home sales fell sharply by 14.5% in March to an annual rate of 384,000 units. Durable goods orders increased 2.6% in March. Initial jobless claims rose 24,000 to 329,000 for the week ended 4/19.
Weekly Economic Update: April 14-18, 2014
Retail sales increased 1.1% in March. Business inventories increased 0.4% in February. The consumer price index rose 0.2% in March while core CPI also increased 0.2%. Housing starts rose 2.8% in March to an annualized pace of 946,000 units. Building permits fell 2.4% in March to an annualized pace o...
Weekly Economic Update: April 7-11, 2014
Consumer credit increased $16.49 billion (0.5%) in February to $3.13 trillion. The U.S. Treasury budget deficit was $36.9 billion in March. The producer price index increased 0.5% in March. Initial jobless claims fell 32,000 to 300,000 for the week ended 4/5.
Weekly Economic Update: March 31-April 4, 2014
Vehicle sales increased 6.9% in March to a higher-than-expected 16.40 million annual rate. The ISM index increased a half-point to 53.7 for March. Construction spending inched up 0.1% in February. Factory orders increased 1.6% in February. The U.S. trade deficit widened $3.2 billion to $42.3 billio...
Weekly Economic Update: March 24-28, 2014
The Case-Shiller home price index increased 0.8% in January. New home sales fell to an annual rate of 440,000 units in February. Durable goods orders increased 2.2% in February. Pending home sales fell 0.8% in February. In the final estimate of the 4th quarter of 2013, GDP grew an annualized 2.6%. P...
Weekly Economic Update: March 10-14, 2014
The U.S. Treasury budget deficit came in at $193.5 billion for February. Retail sales increased 0.3% in February. Business inventories increased 0.4% in January. The producer price index fell 0.1% in February while core PPI fell 0.2%. Initial jobless claims fell 9,000 to 315,000 for the week ended 3...
Weekly Economic Update: March 3-7, 2014
Total vehicle sales increased 1.0% in February to a 15.34 million annual rate. Personal income increased 0.3% in January, and consumer spending rose 0.4%. The ISM manufacturing index increased 1.9 points to a higher-than-expected 53.2 in February. Construction spending increased 0.1% in January. The...
Addressing the Opportunity Gap
In the wake of the Great Recession, many Americans don’t feel economically mobile as they face rising healthcare expenses, high energy prices, swelling college education costs and slow wage growth. A recent Gallup survey confirmed that income inequality is not ranked high on the minds of Americans- ...
Weekly Economic Update: February 17-21, 2014
Housing starts fell 16.0% in January to an annual rate of 880,000 units. Building permits fell 5.4% in January to an annual rate of 937,000 units. The consumer price index increased 0.1% in January while core CPI also increased 0.1%. The producer price index increased 0.2% in January while core PPI ...
ARRA’s Five Year Anniversary
President’s Day, February 17th, 2014, marked the fifth anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The economy has achieved prerecession levels in several important broad measures, including real gross domestic product (GDP), real consumer spending, real personal income, real c...
