Economy in Brief: October 2009

For September, the employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics were uniformly weak. Payrolls fell a more-than-expected 263,000. Hours worked fell again. The unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, the highest since 1983. All in [...]

For September, the employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics were uniformly weak. Payrolls fell a more-than-expected 263,000. Hours worked fell again. The unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, the highest since 1983. All in [...]

The headline sounded so promising: construction spending rose 0.8% in August, when forecasters had looked only for a 0.2% decrease. But the pleasure with this result was short-lived. July's amount was revised from -0.2% to -1.1% and [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance ticked higher last week and suggested little labor market improvement since the summer. The Labor Department indicated that claims reversed the prior week's decline and rose 17,000 to 551,000, the [...]

The National Association of Purchasing Management data continued to indicate that the recession in U.S. factory sector activity is over. Though the September composite index slipped to 52.6 from 52.9 in August, it remained near the [...]

Housing demand continues to improve. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that during August, pending home sales increased 6.4%, notably stronger than June's 3.6% and July's 3.2% gains. NAR's index stood at 103.8, the [...]

Yes, Japan’s Tankan survey has legs and the rise in the various large company Tankan indices is ongoing. There is somewhat less vigor in the rise of the future improvement expected but it is still advancing at a solid pace and the [...]

Personal income in August continued to increase at its modest July rate. The 0.2% rise followed a 0.2% gain which was revised from 0.1%. Consensus forecasts were for a 0.1% uptick. These weak increases wholly reflect the current [...]