Weekly Economic Update: January 16-20, 2012
Industrial production increased 0.4% in December. The topline PPI fell 0.1% while the core PPI increased 0.3%. The topline CPI was unchanged while the core CPI rose 0.1%. Existing home sales rose 5.0% in December as housing starts fell 4.1% and building permits were essentially unchanged. Initia...
Weekly Economic Update: January 9-13, 2012
Consumer credit increased $20.4 billion in November. Retail sales edged up 0.1% in December. The U.S. trade deficit widened$4.5 billion to $47.8 billion. The U.S. Treasury reported an $86 billion deficit in December. Business inventories were up 0.3% in December. Initial jobless claims rose 24,...
Weekly Economic Update: January 2-6, 2012
The economy added 200,000 payroll jobs in December as the unemployment rate fell to 8.5%. The ISM index rose 1.2 points to 53.9 in December; the ISM services index rose 0.6 points to 52.6. Auto sales declined 0.6% in December. Construction spending was up 1.2% in November. Factory orders rose 1....
Year in Review Charts from the Weekly Economic Update
Here's a quick look at the changes in 2011 of the stock markets, 10yr treasury bond yields, value of the dollar, price of oil and gold, and 30yr fixed mortgages.
Weekly Economic Update: December 26-30, 2011
Pending home sales rose 7.3% in November. The Case-Shiller home price index edged down 0.6% in October. Initial jobless claims increased 15,000 to a level of 381,000 for the week ended 12/24.
Weekly Economic Update: December 19-23, 2011
GDP growth for Q3 was revised downward to 1.8%. Housing starts increased 9.3% while building permits rose 5.7% in November. Existing home sales were up 4.0% in November while new home sales increased 1.6%. Personal income and personal spending both edged up 0.1% in November. Initial jobless clai...
Weekly Economic Update: December 12-16, 2011
Retail sales were up 0.2% in November. The FOMC held constant its federal funds rate target. Industrial production declined 0.2% in November. The topline CPI was unchanged in November as the core CPI rose 0.2%. The topline PPI increased 0.3% while the core PPI rose 0.1%. Business inventories in...
Weekly Economic Update: December 5-9, 2011
The ISM services index fell 0.9 point to 52.0 in November. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed 1.6% to $43.5 billion in October. Consumer credit increased 0.3% in October. Factory orders were down 0.4% in October. Initial jobless claims fell 14,000 to a level of 381,000 for the week ended 12/3.
Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee
The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) made no changes to its policy of maintaining a Federal Funds target rate of 0 to ¼ percent and stating that it “anticipates that economic conditions--including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the me...
States of Bankruptcy
In 2010, employee contributions to state and local pension plans represented 30% of total contributions while taxpayers were responsible for the remaining 70%. Even if the contributions that state and local governments and their employees make to defined-benefit pension plans and the investment inc...
