Economy in Brief

For December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls rose a meager 18,000 versus expectations for a 50,000 increase. That expectation was ratcheted down after yesterday's ADP report of a modest 40,000 increase [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance fell 21,000 last week to 336,000 after a 9,000 rise during the prior week. During the week prior claims had risen a sharp 14,000, so the latest figure reversed nearly all of those two increases. [...]

Challenger, Grey & Christmas reported that job cut announcements in December fell back to 44,416 after 73,140 during November. The number of announcements was the lowest since the middle of last year. Job cut announcements fell [...]

The ADP National Employment Report, reported by the payroll processor, indicated that private nonfarm payroll growth deteriorated to 40,000 during December after a downwardly revised 173,000 November rise.The increase was the weakest [...]

The ADP National Employment Report, reported by the payroll processor, indicated that private nonfarm payroll growth deteriorated to 40,000 during December after a downwardly revised 173,000 November rise.The increase was the weakest [...]

The value of construction put in lace rose a slight 0.1% during November following a 0.4% downtick during October. These, and other, small monthly changes this year have left the value of construction put in place down just 0.2% year [...]

According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes ticked 0.4% higher during November. The rise, however, did little to recover declines during the prior eight months which totaled 25.4% Moreover, sales [...]

Chain store sales at the end of last year surged. In the final week of 2007 sales dipped just 0.2% after gains of 2.8% and 1.4% during the prior two weeks according to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)-UBS. For all [...]