Sales of new one-family houses in October 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This is 5.3 percent (±15.0%)* below the revised September of 457,000 and is 40.1 percent (±9.9%) below the October 2007 estimate of 723,000. The median sales price of new houses sold in October 2008 was $218,000; the average sales price was $272,300. The seasonally adjusted ...

Tenth District manufacturing activity weakened further in November, and firms’ expectations for future activity declined considerably. Price indexes in the survey also fell markedly for the second straight month.

The net percentage of firms reporting month-over-month increases in production in November was -31, down from -23 in October and -9 in September. Production contracted at both durable and non-durable-goods producing plants. Nearly all other month-over-month indexes were ...

Consumers have expressed the most pessimistic economic outlook in the past quarter century just as the holiday shopping season gets underway. Consumer confidence fell in the last half of November due to mounting job losses, falling incomes, and the evaporation of household wealth. There have been only two surveys during the past half century ...

The Chicago Purchasing Managers reported the CHICAGO BUSINESS BAROMETER weakened in November to the lowest level since the recession month of April 1982:
BUSINESS ACTIVITY:
- PRICES PAID declined toward neutral, reaching the lowest level since July 2003;
- ORDER indexes reached two decade lows
- EMPLOYMENT continued year-long decline, reaching a ...

New York City business activity was the weakest in five years, according to the survey taken by the National Association of Purchasing Management- New York (NAPM-NY). The Current Business Conditions index fell to 33.3 in November, the lowest level since April 2003.

Purchasing managers have never been more pessimistic. The Six-Month Outlook index dropped to 29.7 in November, a record low in the 16-year history of the Report on Business. Purchasing volume also hit a record low, and cost pressures fell for a second straight month. The ...

The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index (CFMMI) declined 1.0% in October, to a seasonally adjusted level of 98.6 (2002 = 100). Revised data show the index decreased 3.6% in September, to 99.5. The Federal Reserve Board’s industrial production index for manufacturing (IPMFG) edged up 0.6% in October. Regional output in October was 8.3% ...

For the week ending November 15, 2008, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dropped -0.6 percent extending its decline to eleven straight weeks. It’s certainly no coincidence that the last time the barometer posted an increase was the week immediately preceding the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The collapse of the financial giant seemed to mark ...

Personal income increased $42.4 billion, or 0.3 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $45.1 billion, or 0.4 percent, in October, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $102.8 billion, or 1.0 percent. In September, personal income increased $8.0 billion, or 0.1 percent, ...

In the week ending Nov. 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 529,000, a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 543,000. The 4-week moving average was 518,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's revised average of ...

New orders for manufactured durable goods in October decreased $12.7 billion or 6.2 percent to $193.0 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the largest percent decrease in new orders since October 2006 and followed two consecutive monthly decreases including a 0.2 percent September decrease. Excluding transportation, new ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 21, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 404.4, an increase of 1.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 398.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index ...

In November, the seasonally adjusted manufacturing index — our broadest measure of manufacturing activity — decreased to -38 from October's reading of -26. Among the index's components, shipments lost seven points to -31, new orders fell thirteen points to -48, and the jobs index plummeted seventeen points to finish ...

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index™, which had declined to an all-time low in October, improved moderately in November. The Index now stands at 44.9 (1985=100), up from 38.8 in October. The Present Situation Index decreased to 42.2 from 43.5 last month. The Expectations Index increased to 46.7 from 35.7 ...

Data through September 2008, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, shows continued broad based declines in the prices of existing single family homes across the United States, a trend that prevailed ...

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- decreased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008, (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In ...

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Retail Chain Store Sales Index declined 0.9% in the week to Nov. 22 from its level a week before, on a seasonally-adjusted, comparable store basis. On a year-on-year basis, retailers saw sales decline 0.8% in the latest week. This marks the second weekly decline for year-on-year ...

Texas manufacturing activity deteriorated further in November, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. Most indicators of current factory activity plunged. Several indexes for future production fell to their lowest levels since the survey started in June 2004, suggesting respondents expect ...

Existing-home sales declined on the heels of a strong gain in September as uncertainty and economic concerns increased in October, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – fell 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.98 million units in October from a downwardly revised pace of 5.14 million in September, and are 1.6 percent below the 5.06 ...

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index was –1.06 in October, up from –3.11 in September. The improvement in the index in October was primarily driven by the rise in industrial production from September. Production-related indicators made a positive contribution to the index in October, while the other three broad categories made ...

For the week ending November 8, 2008, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dropped -0.3 percent extending its decline to ten straight weeks. It’s certainly no coincidence that the last time the barometer posted an increase was the week immediately preceding the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The collapse of the financial giant seemed to mark ...

Conditions in the region's manufacturing sector continued to deteriorate, according to firms polled for this month's Business Outlook Survey. Most broad indicators declined again in November, following sharp decreases in October. Input price pressures, which had been moderating over recent months, showed a marked decrease in November. Also, ...

The Conference Board announced today that the U.S. leading index decreased 0.8 percent, the coincident index increased 0.2 percent and the lagging index increased 0.1 percent in October.

The leading index declined sharply in October as stock prices, building permits, consumer expectations and the index of supplier deliveries made large negative contributions to the index, despite continued positive contributions from real money supply and the interest rate ...

In the week ending Nov. 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 542,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 515,000. The 4-week moving average was 506,500, an increase of 15,750 from the previous week's revised average of ...

BUILDING PERMITS
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 708,000. This is 12.0 percent (±1.8%) below the revised September rate of 805,000 and is 40.1 percent (±1.6%) below the revised October 2007 estimate of 1,182,000. Single-family authorizations in October were at ...

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 1.0 percent in October, before seasonal adjustment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The October level of 216.573 (1982-84=100) was 3.7 percent higher than in ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 14, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 398.6, a decrease of 6.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 425.0 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index ...

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes plunged in November as worsening problems in the financial markets, job market weakness and overwhelming uncertainty about the economy continued to negatively impact consumer behavior, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index ...

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods fell 2.8 percent in October, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This decrease followed a 0.4-percent decline in September and a 0.9-percent fall in August. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers ...

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Retail Chain Store Sales Index rose 0.3% in the week to Nov. 15 from its level a week before, on a seasonally-adjusted, comparable store basis.

On a year-on-year basis, retailers saw sales decline by 0.1% in the latest week, compared with a 0.4% sales increase the prior week. This week marks the first time since April 5, 2003, that sales dipped on a year-over-year basis. ...

Industrial production increased 1.3 percent in October after a downwardly revised decline of 3.7 percent in September. The revision to September output resulted, in part, from a larger estimate of the impact of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike on the chemical industry. Manufacturing production, which dropped 3.7 percent in September, rose 0.6 percent ...

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions for New York manufacturers continued to deteriorate in November. The general business conditions index slipped 0.8 point, to -25.4—a record low in this survey’s seven-year history. The indexes for new orders and shipments also edged down to record lows, while the measures for ...

Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for September, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,164.3 billion, down 2.0 percent (±0.2%) from August 2008, but up 3.4 percent (±0.4%) from September ...

The U.S. Import Price Index fell for the third consecutive month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today, decreasing 4.7 percent in October and 10.6 percent over the past three months. Export prices declined 1.9 percent in October, the third consecutive ...

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for October, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $363.7 billion, a decrease of 2.8 percent (±0.5%) from the previous month and 4.1 percent (±0.7%) below October 2007. Total ...

For the week ending November 1, 2008, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dropped -0.7 percent, and has not posted a gain in nine weeks. Over the past six weeks or so, the auto industry and related sectors such as steel production (also affected by unwinding commodity prices) have weighed most on the barometer’s performance. Third quarter real ...

The Nation's international deficit in goods and services decreased to $56.5 billion in September from $59.1 billion (revised) in August, as imports decreased more than exports.

Goods and Services
Exports decreased to $155.4 billion in September from $165.3 billion in August. Goods were $108.1 billion in September, down from $117.9 billion in August, and services were $47.3 billion in September, down from $47.4 billion in August. ...

In the week ending Nov. 8, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 516,000, an increase of 32,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 484,000. The 4-week moving average was 491,000, an increase of 13,250 from the previous week's revised average of ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 7, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 425.0, an increase of 11.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 379.9 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index ...

The International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Retail Chain Store Sales Index decreased 1.0% in the week to Nov. 8 from its level a week before, on a seasonally-adjusted, comparable store basis. U.S. retailers’ sales rose at the slowest weekly pace since April as consumers curtailed spending amid increasing unemployment ...

Consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 1-1/4 percent in the third quarter. Revolving credit increased at an annual rate of 2-1/2 percent, and nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 1/2 percent.In September, consumer credit increased at an annual rate of ...

Pending home sales fell on the heels of a strong gain a month earlier as credit tightened and economic conditions deteriorated, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in September, declined 4.6 percent to 89.2 from an upwardly revised reading of 93.5 in August, but is 1.6 percent higher than September 2007 when it stood at 87.8. ...

Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that September 2008 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were $396.2 billion, down 1.5 percent (+/-0.5%) from the revised August level, but up 9.1 ...

Nonfarm payroll employment fell by 240,000 in October, and the unemployment rate rose from 6.1 to 6.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. October's drop in payroll employment followed declines of 127,000 in August and 284,000 in September, as revised. Employment has fallen by 1.2 million in ...

For the week ending October 25, 2008, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer edged down -0.1 percent, and has not posted a gain in eight weeks. Third quarter real GDP was reported to have dropped by -0.3 percent in the BEA’s advanced data release. One month into the fourth quarter, economic growth looks to have built upon that decline. Though ...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today reported preliminary productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all persons--for the third quarter of 2008. The preliminary seasonally-adjusted annual rates of productivity growth in the third quarter were: 1.3 percent in the business sector and 1.1 percent in ...

In the week ending Nov. 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 481,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 485,000. The 4-week moving average was 477,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised average of 477,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending Oct. 25, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 2.8 percent. ...

The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index registered 44.4 percent in October, 5.8 percentage points lower than the 50.2 percent registered in September, indicating contraction in the non-manufacturing sector after two consecutive months of growth. The Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index decreased 7.9 percentage points to 44.2 percent. The New ...

Nonfarm private employment decreased 157,000 from September to October 2008 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change in employment from August to September was revised down from a decrease of 8,000 to a decrease of 26,000. October’s ADP National Employment Report offers evidence of ...

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 31, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 379.9, a decrease of 20.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 476.7 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index ...

New orders for manufactured goods in September, down two consecutive months, decreased $11.2 billion or 2.5 percent to $432.0 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 4.3 percent August decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 3.7 percent. This was the largest percent decrease since the series was ...