Nonfarm Payrolls Decline in April
May 08, 9:29 AM ET |
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| The number of unemployed persons increased by 563,000 to 13.7 million in April, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.9%. |
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| Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in April -539,000, and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. |
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Productivity Rises 0.8% in Q1
May 07, 9:00 AM ET |
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| Manufacturing sector productivity fell for the fourth consecutive quarter. |
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| First quarter declines in output and hours in total manufacturing were the largest in these series, which begin with data for the second quarter of 1987; output dropped 22.4% and hours fell 19.7%. Output and hours in manufacturing, which includes about 11% of U.S. business sector employment, tend to vary more from quarter to quarter than data for the aggregate business and nonfarm business sectors. |
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Jobless Claims Decline by 34,000
May 07, 8:41 AM ET |
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| The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.7% during the week ending April 25, unchanged from the prior week. |
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| In the week ending May 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 601,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week''''s revised figure of 635,000. The 4-week moving average was 623,500, a decrease of 14,750 from the previous week''''s revised average of 638,250. |
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Crude and Distillate Inventories Rise
May 06, 10:42 AM ET |
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| Distillate fuel inventories increased by 2.4 million barrels and are above the upper boundary of the average range for this time of year. |
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| U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 0.6 million barrels from the previous week. At 375.3 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper boundary of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 0.2 million barrels last week and are in the upper half of the average range. Finished gasoline inventories rose last week but gasoline blending components inventories decreased during this same time. |
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Bernanke's Testimony
May 05, 12:11 PM ET |
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| Consumer spending, which dropped sharply in the second half of last year, grew in the first quarter. |
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| The U.S. economy has contracted sharply since last autumn, with real gross domestic product having dropped at an annual rate of more than 6% in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of this year. Among the enormous costs of the downturn is the loss of some 5 million payroll jobs over the past 15 months. |
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ISM Non-Manufacturing Rises to 43.7%
May 05, 10:39 AM ET |
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| ISM's Non-Manufacturing New Orders Index contracted in April for the seventh consecutive month. |
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| In April, the NMI registered 43.7%, indicating contraction in the non-manufacturing sector at a slower rate compared to March''''s reading of 40.8%. A reading above 50% indicates the non-manufacturing sector economy is generally expanding; below 50% indicates the non-manufacturing sector is generally contracting. |
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Construction Spending Advances 0.3% in March
May 04, 10:27 AM ET |
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| During the first 3 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $209.5 billion, 10.9% below the $235.2 billion for the same period in 2008. |
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| The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during March 2009 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $969.7 billion, 0.3% above the revised February estimate of $967.1 billion. The March figure is 11.1% below the March 2008 estimate of $1,090.5 billion. |
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Factory Orders Fall 0.9% in March
May 01, 11:22 AM ET |
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| Shipments, down eight consecutive months, decreased $4.5 billion or 1.2% to $360 billion. |
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| New orders for manufactured goods in March, down seven of the last eight months, decreased $3.2 billion or 0.9% to $345.3 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 0.7% February increase. Excluding transportation, new orders also decreased 0.9%. |
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ISM Index Rises to 40.1%
May 01, 11:17 AM ET |
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| A PMI in excess of 41.2%, over a period of time, generally indicates an expansion of the overall economy. |
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| Manufacturing contracted in April as the PMI registered 40.1%, which is 3.8 percentage points higher than the 36.3% reported in March. This is the 15th consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector. |
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