Research Center

According to the Census Bureau on Thursday, U.S. retail sales for November—adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes—increased 0.3 percent month-over-month.

The Federal Open Market Committee met on Wednesday and, among other things, promised to keep the federal funds rate at 0 percent to 0.25 percent, as it has been since the onset of the Great Recession.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summery reported that the number of job openings in October was 3.7 million, basically the same as in September.

The Conference Board reported that its Employment Trends Index decreased slightly in November, making the fourth monthly drop this year.

In reporting a net gain of 146,000 jobs in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics also noted that some industries hired quite a bit, while others saw job losses.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the U.S. economy created 146,000 jobs in November. Since the beginning of this year, employment growth has averaged 151,000 per month, about the same as the average monthly job gain in 2011, which was 153,000.

Automatic Data Processing, which prepares hiring numbers in cooperation with Moody’s Analytics every month, said that the U.S. private sector created 118,000 jobs in November, a drop from the 157,000 the company reported in October.

CoreLogic reported on Tuesday that U.S. home prices were up 6.3 percent year-over-year in October.

Spending on private construction came in at an annualized rate of $592.1 billion, 1.6 percent above September’s total of $582.7 billion.