Forecasts that the U.S. is headed into recession took another lump from the economic data with today’s release of the showing that initial claims for unemployment fell by 7,000
The U.S. manufacturing sector has been the focus of worry that the U.S. economy might slip into recession. For January, however, U.S. industrial output rose by 0.9%, the Fed reported today
The most important number in this morning’s jobs report was the gain in hourly earnings. Average hourly earnings rose at a 2.5% year over year rate in January
In December the U.S. economy added 290,000 jobs, well above the median estimate of 200,000 among economists surveyed by Bloomberg, but wage growth disappointed at 2.5% year over year
Revised figures show the U.S. economy growing at a 2.0% rate in the third quarter but consumer spending minus inventories and exports increased at a 2.9% pace
The pickup in GDP growth reported for the third quarter in the November 24 revision could wind up coming out of the hide of fourth quarter growth.
This morning the non-manufacturing index from the Institute for Supply Management moved up to 59.1 for October from an already strong 56.9 in September
The government reported today that durables orders—that’s orders for long-lasting goods such as heavy machinery, truck engines, and airplanes—fell a seasonally adjusted 1.2% in September. That’s after a 3% drop in August. (The August number was a downward adjustment from the initial report of a 2.3% decline in the month.)
Tomorrow’s (Friday) report on job growth for September will be scrutinized for clues on whether or not the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at the December 16 meeting of its Open Market Committee. But as interesting and important as the jobs numbers themselves might be, I suggest that you watch the market’s reaction to the numbers as carefully as the numbers themselves
