Labor/Economy

The monthly unemployment numbers for July were relatively weak—up 176,000 jobs—and it turns out that the previous months weren’t quite as strong as first reported, according to revisions released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy created 162,000 jobs.

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor In recent weeks, prognosticators have been predicting that U.S. real gross domestic product would barely increase at all in the second quarter. On Wednesday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its first, or “advance,” estimate of real GDP for 2Q13: an annualized increase of 1.7 percent. Though not especially robust,…

U.S. residential prices continued their upward climb in May, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices.

The National Association of Realtors reported on Monday that its Pending Home Sales Index dropped a notch in June to 110.9 from May’s reading of 111.3. The May reading was the index’s highest level since before the housing bubble burst; back in December 2006, the index maxed out at 112.8.

The University of Michigan reported on Friday that its consumer sentiment index for July came in at 85.1, an improvement from June’s final reading of 84.1, and also up from the mid-July reading of 83.9.

Mortgage interest rates spiked unexpectedly a few weeks ago and have been easing off since.

The Census Bureau reported on Wednesday that new home sales in June were at an annualized rate 497,000 units, representing an 8.3 percent increase from May, when sales were an annualized 459,000 units.