Consumer prices rose slightly in January, mainly lifted by energy and apparel costs due to the tension with Middle Eastern countries and a cotton supply shortage. The 0.2 percent is lower than economists’ forecasts, and they believe that current inflation is being contained by the Federal Reserve, which initially targeted a 2-percent inflation gain for [...]
Archive | February, 2012
Existing Home Sales continue to soar
Existing home sales continued their upward rally in January, a sign affirming that the housing market is on the path to recovery. Around 4.57 million homes were sold in January, an estimate better than what was expected. This is a 4.3% increase from the December home sales, which were downwardly revised by the National Association [...]
Initial Jobless Claims at Record Low: Encouraging Sign for Job seekers
Initial jobless claims for the week ending February 11 fell to the lowest numbers in four years, a sign that employees are in greater demand than previous months and that business in the private sector is growing. Last week, 348,000 people filed for unemployment. The last time these figures fell below 350,000 was September 2008, [...]
Retail Sales Up, Car Sales Down
Retail sales rose 0.4% in January, well below expectations in a sign that the economy isn’t recovering quite as quickly as economists would like to think. Since automakers had reported an increase in unit sales earlier in the month, the 1.3% drop in motor vehicle sales was the biggest surprise in this Commerce Department report [...]
The Upside to the Widening Trade Deficit
The U.S. trade deficit grew in December and overall in 2011 for the second year in a row, a sign the economy is picking up steam, say economists. From November to December, the trade deficit grew to $48.8 billion from $47.1 billion. Within that gap are signs of economic growth: an increase in U.S. imports [...]
