Economy in Brief: 2009

The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank reported that its National Activity Index slipped last month after having improved sharply from the January low. The reading of -0.90 was down from -0.56 during July but both figures were well improved [...]

The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank reported that its National Activity Index slipped last month after having improved sharply from the January low. The reading of -0.90 was down from -0.56 during July but both figures were well improved [...]

Consumer sentiment may be showing the effects of the lessened declines recently logged by overall employment. The University of Michigan's September reading of consumer sentiment rose to 73.5 from the mid-month reading of 70.2 and it [...]

Sales of new single-family homes rose during August for the fifth consecutive month of increase. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 429,000 was up a disappointing 0.7% from a downwardly revised July level of 426,000. [...]

Year-over-year most money supply measures for key countries are still showing solid-to-too-strong growth. The UK is at 11% and the US at 7.8% compared to Japan at 2.8% and EMU at 5.3%. But the developing story is the decay in monetary [...]

Durable goods orders declined unexpectedly last month and reversed half of the little-revised 4.8% jump during July. Virtually all of the August decline reflected lower orders for transportation equipment which gave back half of a [...]

Durable goods orders declined unexpectedly last month and reversed half of the little-revised 4.8% jump during July. Virtually all of the August decline reflected lower orders for transportation equipment which gave back half of a [...]

The U.S. Labor Department reports figures covering mass layoffs which involve at least 50 initial claimants from a single establishment filing during a consecutive 5-week period. They include short-term layoffs of 30 days or fewer. [...]