Research Center
PODCAST: Economy Watch Weekly with Dees Stribling
For the week ending June 3, employment was weak, housing prices down–this is no way to start the summer.
Economy Watch: May Employment Growth Weak
According to the U.S. Department of Labor on Friday, the U.S. economy added 54,000 jobs during May, which was a weak showing indeed, and too close for comfort to the crummy numbers published by ADP earlier in the week. The question now is whether the May numbers are a big bump in the road to recovery–and that road certainly is bumpy–or the start of a more sinister trend.
Economy Watch: ADP Says May Employment Pace Lackluster Indeed
The equity markets were all atwitter–that is, stock-index futures plunged–after ADP Employer Services reported on Wednesday morning that U.S. employers added only 38,000 jobs in May, compared with a revised ADP figure of 177,000 in April, which is the smallest increase reported by the payroll specialist since last September. The May figure was drastically less than anticipated.
Economy Watch: Case-Shiller Calls a Housing Double Dip
The Case-Shiller indexes were down again during the first three months of the year, and the consensus among residential market observers is that the home-price “double dip” is here–the phrasing that Case-Shiller uses to describe the state of the residential market, in fact.
Economy Watch: EU Under Pressure to Bail Greece Out Again
It was a long holiday weekend in the United States, but across the Atlantic, Euro-bureaucrats and -bankers were at work trying to keep Greece from defaulting on its debts and thus doing some kind of unpredictable harm to the euro.
PODCAST: Economy Watch Weekly with Dees Stribling
For the week ending May 27, U.S. GDP growth has been anemic so far this year; home sales are still bumping along the bottom; and Chrysler has paid off its bailout balance.
Economy Watch: Foreclosures Now 28 Percent of All Residential Sales
Foreclosures make up a slightly higher percentage of the residential sales; GDP growth is dragging its feet; and gas prices have not dampened American travel plans.
Economy Watch: OEDC Sees Worldwide Recovery, with Caveats
The Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation is mostly optimistic about global economic growth; the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s index shows house prices down last quarter; and Congress seems to be taking the debt ceiling less seriously than political theater.
Economy Watch: New Home Sales Edge Upward in April
New home sales ticked upward by 7.3 percent last month; Chrysler pays off its debt to the U.S. and Canadian governments; and banks just had their best quarter in four years.
Economy Watch: California AG Targets Mortgage Fraud
The state of California has created a mortgage-fraud task force; Toys R Us is putting in the country’s largest largest solar rooftop installation; and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index took a dive last month.