Economy/Ecommerce

The International Monetary Fund reported that it expects the U.S. economy to grow by a relatively anemic 1.9 percent in 2013, while asserting that growth could be as much as 1.75 percentage points more than the estimate, but the sequester is getting in the way.

The Census Bureau reported that retail and food service sales were up 0.6 percent compared with April and 4.3 percent year-over-year.

CoreLogic reported that about 850,000 U.S. residential properties were no longer underwater as of the end of the first quarter of 2013 or, as the company put it, “returned to a state of positive equity.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary, which casts a bit of a different light on the national employment picture.

According to St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard, speaking at 19th Annual Conference of Montreal, which was organized by the International Economic Forum of the Americas, low U.S. inflation has been a surprise.

The creation of 175,000 jobs in May by the U.S. economy, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was taken as good news mainly because economists, pundits, and investors were expecting a mediocre or worse report (even though it was only a little better than mediocre).

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday that the U.S. economy created 175,000 jobs in May, compared with a rise of 149,000 in April, which was a surprise on the upside.

According to the latest Beige Book published by the Federal Reserve, which is formally called the “Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District,” economic activity increased at a “modest to moderate pace” since the previous report across all Federal Reserve Districts.