Retail Sales Fell the first week of August
August 27, 2010
The ICSC-Goldman Sachs index reported that for the week that ended on August 7, retail sales fell 0.2%; however, on a year-over-year basis, retail sales increased 3.7%.
Productivity during the second quarter fell at an annual rate of 0.9 percent according to the Labor Department, whereas labor costs increased at an annual rate of 0.2 percent and the hours employees worked increased at a 3.6 percent rate. This is an indicator that workers have reached efficiency limits with fewer staff members. Productivity increased 3.5 percent in 2009, which was the highest rate seen in six years.
Wholesalers inventory increased .01 percent in June after a 0.5 percent increase in May. Wholesale sales decreased 0.7 percent in June which was the largest drop since March of 2009. Economists believed inventories would rise 0.4 percent for the month of June.
The seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications according to the Mortgage Bankers Association rose 0.6 percent for the week that ended on August 6. Refinancing applications increased 0.6 percent and purchase volume increased 0.3 percent.
An 18.8 percent was seen in the trade deficit bringing it to $49.9 billion. This was the highest level seen since October 2008 with May seeing a $42 billion gap. Economists anticipated the trade deficit would rise to $42.1 billion. Exports fell to $150.5 billion with a 1.3 percent while imports rose 3 percent to $200.3 billion.
Unemployment claim increased by 2,000 to 484,000 for the week that ended on August 7, which was the highest seen since the middle of February. Economist had anticipated claims to fall to 465,000. Those receiving claims decreased by 118,000 to 4.45 million for the week that ended on July 31.
Upcoming reports include housing market index – August 16, housing starts – August 17, and on August 19 the index of leading economic indicators.
7 Comments to Retail Sales Fell the first week of August
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nice post thanks admin
.-= Video Klip izle´s last blog ..Tarkan Sevdanın Son Vuruşu Kivanch K Mix =-.
I wonder when the world will recover from the crisis. To many unemployed people, the starvation death will increase for sure.
NICE POST THANK YOU. UNEMPLOYMENT IS REALLY INCREASING;
I have been saying for some time now that we need to loosen the restrictions for home loans. Forget about lowering rates, etc. They are plenty low enough. If we can get more people refinancing then they will have more money to spend and that will help with all sectors of the economy, including real estate purchases. Thanks for the info, Joy
It never ends, 1 step forward and 2 steps back. For every bit of good news that comes out, more bad news follows.
.-= Mark Walker@Edmonton Real Estate´s last blog ..Edmonton Schools Move Into Future =-.
Unemployment is a real calamity of our times.
Tube´s last [type] ..Confused Construction Workers
How is it that just anybody can write a site and get as popular as this? Its not like youve said anything incredibly impressive more like youve painted a pretty picture over an issue that you know nothing about! I dont want to sound mean, here. But do you really think that you can get away with adding some pretty pictures and not really say anything?
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