Economy/Ecommerce

U.S. consumers spent a little more in April than in March, but not much more, with the Census Bureau reporting a 0.1 percent month-over-month increase, adjusted for seasonal factors.

After spending some time out of the headlines, the shaky situation in Europe, and its hard-to-predict impact on the world economy, has returned with considerable force to the news.

The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index spiked unexpectedly on Friday to a mid-May reading of 77.8, up from 76.4 a month ago, which is the highest level since early 2008.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of initial unemployment claims for the week ending May 5 was 367,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 368,000.

Fannie Mae reported on Wednesday that it scored net income of $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2012, up from a net loss of $6.5 billion a year ago and $2.4 billion in 4Q11.

CoreLogic reported that U.S. home prices increased by 0.6 percent in March compared to February, the first month-over-month increase since July 2011.

Despite lackluster official employment numbers, hiring is still moving in the right direction.

The headline numbers for employment were an increase of 115,000 in April and a small drop in the unemployment rate for the month, to 8.1 percent.