Economy
In an announcement that comes as no surprise, in large part because it has been repeatedly telegraphed by the the Fed itself, the Federal Reserve Board on voted on Tuesday to leave interest rates at their current near zero rates. The Fed further reiterated its commitment to doing so for the near future, pledging to [...]
New unemployment claims fell to a nine month low in October. This trend has been struggling to get going for several months now. However, the possibility of an improving job market is a good sign for the U.S. economy. Update: Consumer sentiment also rose. That is a little bit more good news for the economy. [...]
The U.S. economy continues to grow at a very slow pace according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book. That isn’t good enough considering how deep the current recession is. At this rate, growth back to anything resembling an expansion would take a very long time. However, the good news is that the economy isn’t getting [...]
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Sales of new houses rose 7.3 percent, to 323,000 annual pace, the highest level in 2011. Of course, this comes on the heels of a record low just two months ago. New home sales statistics are quoted on an annual basis. In other words, if April’s new home sales numbers were what the new home [...]
The April jobs report is due out from the U.S. Labor Department on Friday. While economic statistics typically have a temporary effect on Wall Street before being shoved aside by whatever bit of news or data arrives a few days later, the April jobs number could be a bigger deal than usual. Recently, the Federal [...]
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Today marks the first time the Federal Reserve will hold a press conference to go along with it’s decision on whether to change interest rates. Most observers expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged (basically at zero percent), so the real action will be in the details that emerge from the press conference where [...]
The November jobs report came in worse than predicted. Recent reports suggesting that consumers were spending more money and that first-time unemployment claims were dropping suggested that the Great Recession might be coming to an end in 2010. Alas, the jobs report shatters that idea for the short-term. A recovery without new jobs isn’t worth [...]
Continue reading about Unemployment Report Bad News for 2011 Economy Recovery