Economy/Ecommerce

American shoppers pulled back a bit in May, according to the Census Bureau.

“Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2007 to 2010: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances,” which the Fed released this week, quantified one painful aspect of the very real economic impact of the Panic of 2008 and subsequent Great Recession. The report shows that over the four years from 2007 to 2010, real median household income before taxes fell 7.7 percent.

On Sunday, Spain became the largest of the euro-zone countries to request a bailout, and European finance ministers agreed that banks of the beleaguered nation could receive up to $125 billion, or 100 million euro, in funds to keep them afloat.

CoreLogic reported that U.S. home prices–including distressed sales–increased by 1.1 percent on a year-over-year basis in April.

It’s going to be a busy month in the euro-zone, one way or another.

The headline numbers for the latest monthly employment report were an anemic addition of 69,000 jobs to the U.S. economy in May and an uptick in the unemployment rate to 8.2 percent, the first increase after months of declines.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy created a net of 69,000 jobs in May, a bit less than the revised April figure of 77,000.

Events in Europe continue to make investors (and a lot of other people) nervous.

According to S&P Indices on Tuesday, the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed that all three headline composites ended the first quarter of 2012 at new post-housing crisis lows.