Economy in Brief

As the 2010 Census ended, 225,000 census jobs were lost. That accounted for most of last month's 125,000 decline in nonfarm payrolls. The 433,000 May increase was little revised but the 313,000 April gain was slightly stronger than [...]

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that pending sales of existing single-family homes fell during May by nearly one-third versus April. The decline came with the removal of the government's $8,000 tax credit for [...]

Construction activity slipped 0.2% during May following revised 2.3% and 1.0% gains during the prior two months. The slip was in line with Consensus expectations for a 0.7% decline. Monthly declines in private construction were [...]

Growth still is positive, but for the factory sector the pace of improvement waned further last month. The June composite index from the Institute for Supply Management slipped to 56.2 from 59.7 in May. The latest figure disappointed [...]

According to the outplacement firm of Challenger, Grey & Christmas the level of layoffs during June rose slightly to 39,358. Still, the level was off by roughly one-half from last year and slightly above the lowest level since 2000. [...]

A modestly rising trend to initial claims for unemployment insurance has become apparent. Claims rose 13,000 last week to 472,000 following a slightly-revised 17,000 decline during the prior week. Consensus expectations were for [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications rose again last week by 8.8% to pull the June average up 4.0% from May and up by one-half from June '09. Firm lending activity continued to reflect strong [...]

The rate of improvement in the U.S. job market slowed during June. The latest report from the payroll processor ADP, in their National Employment Report, indicated that private nonfarm payroll levels rose last month by 13,000. The [...]