Economy/Ecommerce
Economy Watch: Number of Underwater Mortgages Drops
Black Knight (formerly LPS) released its Mortgage Monitor report, reporting that 5.52 percent of U.S. residential mortgages were delinquent for the month, down from 5.97 percent in February (more than 30 days late, but not in foreclosure).
Economy Watch: April Job Increases Broad-Based
Recent employment numbers came in better than expected, posting the largest employment rise in about two years, though it isn’t clear yet whether the increase is a one-off surge or the start of a longer-term pattern of healthy job creation—something that’s been a long time in coming
Economy Watch: Construction Spending Rises in March
The Census Bureau reported that construction spending during March was at an annualized rate of $942.5 billion, or 0.2 percent above the revised February rate. The March 2014 figure is 8.4 percent above the March 2013’s annualized rate of $869.2 billion.
Economy Watch: GDP Barely Rises in Q1
Real gross domestic product in the United States increased at an annualized rate of 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2014, according to the “advance” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Economy Watch: Home Prices Still Rising, But Not as Fast
S&P Dow Jones Indices reported that the Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which it publishes, showed that home prices are still going up on an annual basis, though not as much as they have been.
Economy Watch: Pending Home Sales See Uptick
Housing numbers have been trending negative lately, at least in terms of sales (prices are still going up), but the National Association of Realtors reported that after months of going nowhere, its pending home sales rose in March.
Economy Watch: Consumers Cheer Up
U.S. consumer sentiment is up, with the mid-April reading coming in at 82.6, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index.
Economy Watch: Durable Goods Another Positive for the Economy
Indicators for the U.S. economy in March have so far been coming in mixed, but on Thursday there was one more for the positive side of the ledger: durable goods orders were up 2.6 percent for the month, according to the Census Bureau.
Economy Watch: New Homes Sales Dip Unexpectedly
Sales of new single-family housing came in at an annualized rate of 384,000 units in March, according to the Census Bureau.
Economy Watch: Existing Home Sales Edge Down in March
The National Association of Realtors reported that total existing U.S. home sales dropped 0.2 percent to an annualized rate of 4.59 million units in March, compared with 4.6 million in February.