Economy in Brief: 2011

Personal consumption expenditures grew 0.7% last month after a 0.3% January gain that was revised up from 0.2%. A 0.5% February increase had been expected. Spending on goods rose 1.5% (7.4% y/y) after a 0.8% January increase. A 6.2% [...]

Consumers are reeling from the rise in oil prices. The March reading of consumer sentiment, from the University of Michigan, declined 12.9% to 67.5 from 77.5 in February. It was the lowest figure since October. A reading of 68.0 had [...]

Real GDP grew 3.1% (SAAR) last quarter, revised up from the 2.8% reported last month. The revision mostly reflected a lessened subtraction from inventory investment and improved capital spending. The Q4 figure roughly equaled [...]

The positive trend of new orders for durable goods has reversed. That's the message from the 0.9% decline in February orders following a 3.6% January gain, initially reported as 2.7%. Consensus expectations were for a 1.0% increase. [...]

Initial claims for jobless insurance inched lower to 382,000 last week from 387,000, initially reported as 385,000. The decline matched Consensus expectations according to Action Economics. Claims remained near the lowest since May [...]

EMU orders are up by just 0.1% in January after rising by 2.7% in December and 2.1% in November. Despite the weak January result the three-month growth rate is up at an accelerated rate of growth compared to six months and is slightly [...]

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that overall mortgage applications rose 2.7% last week. So far this month applications have risen 14.3% from the February average. Applications to refinance rose 2.7% but were off roughly one- [...]

The overall U.S. employment picture has improved as mass layoffs continue to decline. The Labor Department indicated that layoffs last month of 50 or more persons from a single firm fell 13.4% from February, 2010. Though the rate of [...]