Economy in Brief

Forward momentum in the U.S. economy recently stalled. After earlier improvement, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago slipped last month to a reading of -0.61 and remained down from [...]

The Labor Department reported that initial claims for jobless insurance slipped 8,000 to 470,000 following strong increases during the prior two weeks. Despite the earlier increases, claims remained near the lowest level since late [...]

The pace of improvement in factory sector activity eased after material improvement early last year. Durable goods orders during December provided another indication of a slower rate of gain with a 0.3% increase following two months [...]

The pace of improvement in factory sector activity eased after material improvement early last year. Durable goods orders during December provided another indication of a slower rate of gain with a 0.3% increase following two months [...]

The Federal Open Market Committee today left the Federal funds rate in a "range from 0 to 1/4 percent." The Fed funds rate remained unchanged from late-2008 at its lowest level ever. The discount rate also was left unchanged at 0.5%. [...]

The latest estimates of the federal government's budget deficit were released yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office. Though this fiscal year's deficit estimate of $1.3 trillion was down slightly from 2009 due to the end of the [...]

Despite great strides made in the improvement in business and household confidence since the pit of the recession, levels of confidence for business and households remain at levels that are below par. Both series, while still [...]

For new or existing home sales, December was a bleak month. Following Monday's report that existing home sales dropped sharply, the Commerce Department reported today that new home sales fell 7.6% m/m to 342,000 from an upwardly [...]