Economy in Brief: May 2010

Following the recovery already reported for existing home sales, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) today indicated that March pending sales of existing single-family homes rose 5.3% from February. The gain left home sales up [...]

Forward momentum behind U.S. unit sales of light vehicles eased during April and sales fell 4.8% to 11.21M units (SAAR) from 11.78M in March. Nevertheless, sales remained up by nearly one-quarter from the recession low. April sales [...]

Forward momentum behind U.S. unit sales of light vehicles eased during April and sales fell 4.8% to 11.21M units (SAAR) from 11.78M in March. Nevertheless, sales remained up by nearly one-quarter from the recession low. April sales [...]

World wide, purchasing managers in the manufacturing industry have become increasingly optimistic. The Markit Economic Survey expresses the responses of the purchasing managers in the form of diffusion indexes that are based on [...]

Construction activity remains depressed. The negligible 0.2% uptick in March after the 2.1% February collapse left it near the lowest level since 2003. The latest rise barely beat Consensus expectations for a 0.3% dip. Total private [...]

Employment growth is helping to underpin the recovery in factory sector activity. According to the Institute for Supply Management, the level of activity grew last month at the fastest pace since June of 2004. The April composite [...]

U.S. consumers love to spend, even if they don't have the money. Personal consumption expenditures increased an expected 0.6% during March as spending grew faster than income for the second month in a row. During the last six months [...]

U.S. consumers love to spend, even if they don't have the money. Personal consumption expenditures increased an expected 0.6% during March as spending grew faster than income for the second month in a row. During the last six months [...]