ECB Holds Interest Rates Low As Recession Lingers
The European Central Bank announced that it would keep its keep rates low, in the face of one of the worst recessions in the region’s history. GDP is falling in most countries. Unemployment in…
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Newest first · Page 330Job Creation Remains at Five-Year High: Gallup
ThinkstockGallup’s June Job Creation Index remained equal to May’s reading of 22, the highest level since April 2008. The index for nongovernment jobs rose from a reading of 24 in May to 25 in…
ISM Services Index Hit by Lack of New Orders
ThinkstockThis morning’s report from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on non-manufacturing PMI showed that the U.S. services sector is growing, but at its slowest pace in the past 12 months. The index reading…
Payroll-to-Population Employment Rate Improves in June: Gallup
ThinkstockIn a tracking survey that estimates the percentage of the U.S. population employed at least 30 hours a week, Gallup reports that the payroll-to-population (P2P) employment rate rose from 43.9% in May to 44.8%…
New Jobless Claims Below Expectations
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsNew claims for unemployment benefits fell from 348,000 to 343,000 last week, according to the weekly report from the U.S. Department of Labor. The consensus estimate called for a drop…
May U.S. Trade Deficit Rises Sharply
ThinkstockThe U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported this morning that the U.S. trade deficit for May totaled $45 billion, up from a revised $40.1 billion in April. That is a…
ADP Reports Job Growth More Than Expected
ThinkstockU.S. private employers added 188,000 new jobs in the month of June, according to today’s report from ADP. That is significantly better than the revised total of 134,000 in May and better than a…
Employers Cut 260,000 Jobs in First Half of 2013
ThinkstockThe number of jobs cut in the first six months of this year total 258,932, according to the latest report from outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. The total is 8.5% lower than the…
Why Friday’s June Unemployment Report Already Looks Sloppy
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesThe Labor Department report on Friday is going to be a very interesting. Investors and traders, and the public for that matter, have to worry about the real unemployment report…
Pace of Eurozone Recession Slows: Markit
ThinkstockThe worst of the recession in Europe may have ended, or at least the economy there is not deteriorating as fast as it has been. Markit issued its latest purchasing managers index (PMI) data…
China Economy in Trouble: PMI Shows Sign of Steadying
ThinkstockChina’s purchasing managers index (PMI) held about even last month. It was good news, even if only relatively. A growing number of economists have become convinced that China’s exports would collapse due to weak…
NY Fed’s Dudley: Just Wait ‘til Next Year
ThinkstockThe storm of equity selling that followed the June meeting of the FOMC has brought out the troops (Fed presidents mainly) to clear up what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke meant when he said that…
Economic Confidence at All-Time High: Gallup
ThinkstockAmericans’ confidence in the U.S. economy nearly matched its highest monthly reading since 2008 in June, posting a reading of -8 compared with May reading of -7, according to the latest data from Gallup.…
Factory Orders on the Rise in May
ThinkstockFactory orders in America rose by a slightly better than expected 2.1% in May, according to the Commerce Department. Both Bloomberg and Dow Jones had estimates for a gain of 2.0%. If you back…
ISM-New York Hits Low Not Seen in More Than Four Years
ThinkstockThe Institute for Supply Management (ISM) has released its Report on Business for the month of June, and the numbers are pretty bad. In fact, the June report appears to be a four-year low…