Initial Jobless Claims Hold Their Ground

The latest jobless claims report from the Department of Labor shows no change in the number of initial jobless claims.  That number remains steady at 370,000, while the insured unemployment rose slightly to 3,265,000.  Looking at the four week moving averages we see that both initial claims and insured unemployment are both down slightly. The report issued April 28th showed a large decrease in the initial number...

Fed Open Market Committee Minutes Show Steady Economic Growth

The latest Fed Open Market Committee minutes were released at 2:00PM on May 16th.  The meeting that took place on April 24th did not contain too many surprises, since shortly after that meeting chairman Ben Bernanke held a press conference that highlighted many of the key points.  The bottom line is the economy is showing improvements, but the growth is slow. The talk of QE3 shows there are many more likely...

Consumer Price Index Flat and Retail Sales Show Weak Growth in April

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that overall consumer prices for the All Urban Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) did not change in April 2012. In March, the CPI rose 0.3 percent. The survey of Bloomberg economists predicted that prices would remain flat. The CPI-U index rose 2.3 percent on a non-adjusted basis, over the past year. The year-over-year rate for March also came in at 2.3 percent. After three...

New Financial Watchdog Releases First CFPB Annual Report on Consumer Complaints

Opening its doors for operations in July 2011, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has the distinction of being the first federal agency responsible for educating consumers, enforcing consumer-related regulations and observing financial markets for new risks. On April 6, 20011, the agency published its first CFPB Annual Report on Consumer Complaints.  The CFPB has oversight responsibilities of mortgage...

Mortgage Applications Increase Over the Previous Week

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, for the week ending May 4, 2012,   calculated a 1 .7 percent  (seasonally unadjusted basis) increase in the  Market Composite Index in contrast to the previous week. The seasonally adjusted figure increased 2.0 percent in week-to-week comparisons. Applications in the convention segment of the market for home loans and remortgage...

April Employment Situation Report Fall Short of Expectations

The Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is one of the most, if not the most, anticipated economic reports each month.  And this month was a little bit of a disappointment for many economists and investors.  While the increase of 115,000 nonfarm payroll jobs is certainly better than a decrease, the April employment situation report is significantly short of the expected 165,000. ...

End of April Sees Surprising Drop in Initial Jobless Claims

The week ending in April 28th saw a surprising drop in the number of initial jobless claims.  The Department of Labor reported a 27,000 claim drop from the prior week’s adjusted 392,000, down to 365,000.  This makes a fantastic leap forward in the labor market, even beating the analyst consensus of 378,000.  Looking back to last year, the initial number of jobless claims has dropped by 99,000. While the drop...

ADP Employment Report – April Job Gains Slow

The ADP employment report shows that U.S. employers in the non-farm private business sector added only 119,000 jobs, on a seasonally adjusted basis, during the period from March to April. The April job gain represents the lowest job gain number in the last seven months. ADP Employer Services adjusted it previous figure employment growth, from February to March to 201,000, down from 209,000. According to the...

BEA Report Shows Income’s Steadily Rising

The latest Personal Incomes and Outlays report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that personal income is up more than the consensus.  Personal incomes increased across all sectors in March.  While much of the increase can be attributed to inflation (which is itself attributed to higher gas prices), the fact remains that personal incomes did increase.  Incomes rose 0.4% in March (after a gain of 0.3% in...

GDP Growth Rate Declines to 2.2 Percent

The American economy, as measured by the Gross National Product (GDP) grew at a slower rate than predicted. Gross domestic product represents one of key economic indicators for measuring the strength of the economy in the production of goods and services. In the first quarter of 2012, GDP increased at a 2.2 percent pace. The GDP growth rate for the final quarter of 2011 was 3 percent. Even with the slowdown, the...