Archive for September, 2013
Monday, September 30th, 2013
- Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.5% in the second quarter of 2013 after increasing at 1.1% in the previous quarter. The price index for gross domestic purchases increased 0.2% in the second quarter, compared to an increase of 1.2% in the previous quarter.
- Corporate profits from current production increased $66.8 billion in the first quarter, after a decrease of $26.6 billion in the previous quarter.
- Personal income increased 0.4%, in August, while personal consumption expenditures increased 0.3%. Personal savings as percent of personal disposable income were 4.6% in August, up from 4.5% in the previous month.
- The price index for personal consumption expenditures (headline index) increased 0.1% in August, while the core index increased of 0.2%. Both indexes were up 1.2% from August 2012.
- New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 0.1% in August, while shipments increased 0.9% in August.
- August new home sales were up 7.9% from the previous month, and were up 12.6% from a year ago. The median sales price of new houses sold was $254.6 thousand, 0.6% above August 2012.
- U.S. House prices rose 1.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis from June to July, following a 0.7% increase in the previous period, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) monthly House Price Index. The July House Price Index change marks the eighteenth consecutive monthly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index. For the 12 months ending in July, U.S. prices rose 8.8%.
- The S & P/Case-Shiller National U.S. Home Price Index posted annual increases of 12.3% and 12.4% in the 12 months ending in July, for the 10-city and 20-city composite indices, respectively. As of July 2013, both composite indexes were back to their spring 2004 levels, and were about 21-22% below their June/July 2006 peaks.
- The Pending Home Sales Index, a leading indicator for the housing sector, decreased 1.6% to a reading of 107.7 in August, according to the National Association of Realtors.
- The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey of September 26th showed average fixed mortgage rates moving lower following the Federal Reserve announcement that it will maintain its bond buying stimulus.
- Mortgage applications increased 5.5% from a week earlier, according to data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending September 20th.
- Domestic non-financial debt rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.1% and reached $41,041.4 billion at the end of second quarter of 2013.
- The U.S. net international investment position was negative $4,504.1 billion at the end of the second quarter as the value of foreign investments in the United States exceeded the value of U.S. investments abroad.
- The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 5 thousand to 305 thousand in the week ending September 21st.
- The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, which had increased slightly in August, decreased slightly in September.
- The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment fell to its lowest level since early in the year.
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Sunday, September 22nd, 2013
- Total Industrial production increased 0.4% in August, after holding steady in the previous month.
- The rate of capacity utilization for total industry was 77.8%, 2.4 percentage points below its 1972-2012 average, but 0.6 percentage point above its level in August 2012
- The current account deficit decreased to $98.9 billion in the second quarter, from $104.9 billion in the previous quarter.
- Housing starts increased 0.9% in August, while building permits decreased 3.8%.
- August existing home sales were up 1.7% from the previous month, and were up 13.2% from a year ago. The median sales price of existing houses sold was $212.1 thousand, 14.7% above August 2012.
- The housing market index of National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo held steady at 58 in September.
- The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey of September 19th showed average fixed mortgage rates moving lower.
- Mortgage applications increased 11.2% from a week earlier, according to data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending September 13th.
- The consumer price index increased 0.1% in August. The consumer price index increased 1.5% for the 12-month period ending in August.
- The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance increased 15 thousand to 309 thousand in the week ending September 14th.
- Real average hourly earnings for all employees rose 0.1% in August.
- The September 2013 Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicated that the conditions for New York manufacturers improved modestly for the fourth consecutive month.
- The Philadelphia FED business outlook survey for September reported increased manufacturing activity.
- The Conference Board index of leading economic indicators increased 0.7% in August, while the coincident index increased 0.2%.
- The Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25%, and to continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month and longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion per month.
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Friday, September 13th, 2013
- Advance estimates of retail and food services sales for August were up 0.2% from the previous month, and were up 4.7% from August 2012.
- Sales of merchant wholesalers in July were up 0.1%.
- Total manufacturing and trade sales for July were up 0.6%, while inventories were up 0.4%.
- The federal government budget ran a deficit of $147.9 billion in August. The cumulative budget deficit for the first eleven months of fiscal year 2013 was $409.0 billion less than the deficit for the same period of the previous fiscal year.
- July consumer credit outstanding increased at an annual rate of 4.4%.
- The producer price index for finished goods (headline index) increased 0.3% in August, while the core index held steady. The producer price index for finished goods increased 1.4% from August 2012.
- The import price index held steady in August, while the export price index decreased 0.5%. The import price index decreased 0.4% from August 2012, while the price index for exports decreased 1.1%.
- The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 31 thousand to 292 thousand in the week ending September 7th.
- The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey of September 12th showed average fixed mortgage rates relatively unchanged from the previous week.
- The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment, preliminary, for September decreased to 76.8, the lowest reading since April.
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Friday, September 6th, 2013
- Total non-farm payroll employment rose 169 thousand in August, following an increase of 104 thousand in the previous month. The unemployment rate decreased to 7.3% in August.
- The average workweek of all employees on private nonfarm payrolls increased 0.1 to 34.5 hours. Average hourly earnings increased by 5 cents.
- The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 9 thousand to 323 thousand in the week ending August 31st.
- Second quarter productivity increased 2.3% (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the non-farm business sector, following a 1.7% decrease in the previous period.
- Sales of domestic cars increased 0.3% in August, while total light vehicle sales increased 1.8%. Total vehicle sales were 16.0 million units in August, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, compared to 14.4 million in August of 2012.
- New orders for manufactured goods decreased 2.4% in July, while shipments increased 1.1%.
- In July, international trade deficit increased $4.6 billion to $39.1 billion.
- Construction spending increased 0.6% in July, following a less than 0.1% decrease in the previous month. Private construction increased 0.9%, while public construction decreased 0.3%. July construction put in place was 5.2% above such construction in July 2012.
- The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey of September 5th showed average fixed mortgage rates moving back up near their highs for the year.
- Mortgage applications increased 1.3% from a week earlier, according to data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending August 30th.
- The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing survey indicated that the manufacturing sector expanded in August for the third consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the 51st consecutive month.
- In August, the Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) non-manufacturing survey results indicated growth in the non-manufacturing business activity for the 44th consecutive month.
- The FED’s “Beige Book” indicated that overall economic activity continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace during the reporting period of early July through late August.
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