Category Archives: U.S. Economic News

When it comes to big, round numbers with investment significance, 14,000 is as big as it gets for the Dow Jones industrial average. Indeed, Dow 14,000 is back in play and in the headlines after the iconic 117-year-old blue chip index briefly topped that lofty milestone Friday for the first time since October 2007. The move pushed the world's best-known stock gauge to its best level since the 2008 financial crisis and left it just shy of its Oct. 9, 2007, all-time high of 14,164.53. Around 10 a.m. ET the Dow was up roughly 140 points and popped over 14,000 for a minute, extending its 2013 gains to...

American employers added 157,000 jobs in January compared with a revised 196,000 jobs the previous month, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The unemployment rate was little changed at 7.9 percent, about where it has been stuck since September. On the bright side, revised government data showed that the economy added 335,000 more jobs than originally estimated during all of 2012, including an additional 150,000 in the last quarter of the year. That was on top of the previously reported fourth-quarter job growth of 603,000 and 2012 growth of 2.2 million. The higher revisions, in particular, encouraged traders on Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones industrial average over the...

The economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, but analysts said there was no reason for panic given that consumer spending and business investment picked up. Gross domestic product fell at a 0.1 percent annual rate, its weakest performance since the economy emerged from recession in 2009, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. If it were not for the hit from slower inventory growth and the deepest plunge in defense spending in 40 years, the economy would have grown at a respectable 2.5 percent rate. In addition, economists said Superstorm Sandy, which struck the East Coast in late October may have reduced GDP by about half a point. "Obviously, the headline number is...

Inventories of previously-owned US homes fell to a 11-year low in December as eager Americans keen to take advantage of record low mortgage interest rates and depressed house prices snapped up existing supplies. Total housing inventory at the end of December fell 8.5 per cent to 1.82m existing homes available for sale last month – the fewest since January 2001 – the National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday. The inventory-to-sales ratio fell to a 4.4 month supply at the current sales pace, down from 4.8 months in November. This is the lowest housing supply since May 2005, near the housing boom peak, when it was 4.3 months. Slow and steady...

Five years ago, the world economy seemed to be doing fine. Read moreComments are closed

Contracts for home resales hit a two-and-a-half-year high in November and factory activity in the Midwest expanded this month, suggesting some economic strength despite the threat of tighter fiscal policy. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday that its pending home sales index, based on contracts signed last month, increased 1.7 percent to 106.4, the highest level since April 2010, when the homebuyer tax credit expired. November was the third consecutive month of gains for signed contracts, which become sales after a month or two. There was a 5 percent rise in October. A separate report showed that the Institute for Supply Management’s Chicago business barometer rose to 51.6 in December, from...

Superstorm Sandy, which hit the northeast US in late October, hampered growth in private sector jobs last month as companies were temporarily forced to close operations. Businesses added 118,000 new jobs in November, ADP, the payroll processor, said on Wednesday. While the report contained upward revisions to the previous two months, November’s figure came in well below October’s 157,000 and economists’ expectations of 125,000 new jobs. Read moreComments are closed

After a decade marred by ballooning budget deficits, rising unemployment and swinging cuts in public services, California’s economy may have finally turned a corner. The state was hit hard by the financial crisis, with the rate of mortgage foreclosures and unemployment much higher than the national average. Regular budget deficits forced the state to slash public services and two years ago it even had to offer IOUs to its creditors in lieu of cash. But jobs growth in the Golden State, an economy larger than those of India or Russia, has outpaced the national trend in the US in recent months. California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office is projecting a...

Stocks fell quickly and deeply today, as investors digested what President Obama’s reelection would mean for portfolios and Wall Street. Grim economic figures about European growth also weighed on trading sentiment. Uncertainty about the outcome of fiscal and monetary policy debates quickly consumed attention, as voters returned Republicans to control of the House and ensured a divided government. “The re-election of President Obama removes one uncertainty that has been weighing on the markets over the last few months. But they are none the wiser about if, how and when Congress will deal with the colossal tightening in fiscal policy scheduled to occur early next year,” according to Action...