US - Economic Data & News 01 (May 08 - Jul 08)

[kennynah]

14 May 2008 17:28 GMT
DOT says freight activity fell in March
WASHINGTON (AP) - Freight activity fell in March while a passenger index rose, according to government data released Wednesday.

The Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said its freight transportation services index, which measures changes in the output of services by the railroad, air freight and trucking industries, was 109.4 in March, 0.4 percent lower than the same month last year.

The freight index was down 1.9 percent from its February level, the largest monthly decline since August 2006. The index started in January 1990 at 66.6, and peaked in November 2005 at 113.1.

Canadian National Railway Co., Union Pacific Corp., Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. and CSX Corp. are among the largest railroad operators. Trucking companies include Con-Way Inc., Marten Transport Ltd., YRC Worldwide Inc. and Knight Transportation Inc. Air freight providers included FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc.

The passenger transportation index, which measures local transit, air travel and intercity railroads, gained 1.8 percent to 116.2 in March from a year earlier. That index, which also was up 1.8 percent from its February level, started at 70.5 in 1990 and peaked at nearly 118.2 last October.

The government's combined freight and passenger transportation services index in March was 110.7, a 0.2 percent gain compared with the same month last year, but down 1 percent from February. It started at 67.1 in 1990 and peaked at 112.6 in May 2006.

The March government data are preliminary and scheduled to be revised in four months.

[kennynah]

this could be a dicey econ data... so far, no noticeable effects seen on indexes...

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14 May 2008 18:31 GMT
Michigan jobless rate declined in April to 6.9 percent
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined in April, but mostly because the civilian work force is shrinking.

The state said Wednesday the jobless rate was 6.9 percent last month. That's down from the March rate of 7.2 percent, which was the nation's highest.

But the underlying news isn't good.

The rate dropped mainly because Michigan's civilian labor force is shrinking and included about 15,000 fewer people overall last month than in March. About 2,000 fewer people were employed last month.

The state had 7,000 fewer construction jobs in April than it had in March, according to payroll employment estimates. Rick Waclawek, director of the state's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, said in a statement that is a "relatively large reduction."

Manufacturing jobs continued to be lost in Michigan. There were 11,000 fewer manufacturing jobs reported in April in part because of ongoing labor disputes involving auto companies. The state has 53,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than a year ago.

Michigan also had 2,000 fewer jobs in retail trade and 2,000 fewer jobs in leisure and hospitality services last month.

The total number of seasonally adjusted payroll jobs in Michigan fell by about 19,000, to just less than 4.2 million.

Michigan reported job gains in government and professional and business services. Each of those segments picked up 3,000 jobs in April.

The national unemployment rate for April was 5 percent.

Michigan has had the nation's highest jobless rate for much of the past few years. Some economists say the jobless rate could go higher later this year.

In a preliminary report released this week, the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency estimates the unemployment rate could be about 7.6 percent overall this year and could reach 8.4 percent in 2009.

The national unemployment rate also is expected to rise into 2009.

[kennynah]

this could be dicey and affect the overall mkt mood...but apparently, no noticeable effect on indexes so far....which is good...s&p500 still staying at 1418

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14 May 2008 18:31 GMT
Michigan jobless rate declined in April to 6.9 percent
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined in April, but mostly because the civilian work force is shrinking.

The state said Wednesday the jobless rate was 6.9 percent last month. That's down from the March rate of 7.2 percent, which was the nation's highest.

But the underlying news isn't good.

The rate dropped mainly because Michigan's civilian labor force is shrinking and included about 15,000 fewer people overall last month than in March. About 2,000 fewer people were employed last month.

The state had 7,000 fewer construction jobs in April than it had in March, according to payroll employment estimates. Rick Waclawek, director of the state's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives, said in a statement that is a "relatively large reduction."

Manufacturing jobs continued to be lost in Michigan. There were 11,000 fewer manufacturing jobs reported in April in part because of ongoing labor disputes involving auto companies. The state has 53,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than a year ago.

Michigan also had 2,000 fewer jobs in retail trade and 2,000 fewer jobs in leisure and hospitality services last month.

The total number of seasonally adjusted payroll jobs in Michigan fell by about 19,000, to just less than 4.2 million.

Michigan reported job gains in government and professional and business services. Each of those segments picked up 3,000 jobs in April.

The national unemployment rate for April was 5 percent.

Michigan has had the nation's highest jobless rate for much of the past few years. Some economists say the jobless rate could go higher later this year.

In a preliminary report released this week, the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency estimates the unemployment rate could be about 7.6 percent overall this year and could reach 8.4 percent in 2009.

The national unemployment rate also is expected to rise into 2009.

[kennynah]

gold jumped $20

15 May 2008 13:13 GMT
Jobless claims up in sign of further weakness
WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless benefits rose by 6,000 last week to 371,000. The gain was in line with expectations.

The weak economy has triggered four straight months of job losses, often a sign that a recession has started. However, the April drop was just one-fourth the size of job losses in March, giving hope that the current economic slowdown may not be as severe as the past two recessions.

The increase of 6,000 claims applications last week was the smallest one-week move in about two months. Claims have been unusually volatile in recent weeks, reflecting strike-related layoffs in the auto industry and trouble the government had in seasonally adjusting the data to take into account an unusually early Easter.

For the week ending May 3, the total number of people receiving unemployment benefits rose by 28,000 to 3.06 million, the third straight week that this figure has been above 3 million, another sign that the weak economy is having an adverse effect on the labor market.

The number of states and territories reporting increases in claims applications for the week of May 3 totaled 26, while 27 saw decreasing claims.

New York was the state with the biggest rise in claims, a jump of 11,414 that was attributed to higher layoffs in transportation and service industries, followed by Pennsylvania, which saw an increase of 2,716.

Massachusetts had the biggest drop in claims, a decline of 5,027, which was attributed to fewer layoffs in transportation and services. Other states seeing big declines were New Jersey, down 3,259, and Georgia, with a drop of 2,935.

[kennynah]

non event...
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15 May 2008 14:00 GMT
US DATA: May Philly Fed Survey -15.6 vs -24.9, showing more weakness.

((edited to add below in response to MM's post))
MM >>> you are right in your observation... a good lousy data

[millionairemind]

The Philly Fed actually shows an improvement (though it is still -ve)

A slightly +ve news..

[kennynah]

15 May 2008 19:44 GMT
NY unemployment decreases to 4.7 percent in April
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's seasonally adjusted employment rate dropped slightly to 4.7 percent, down from 4.8 in March.

That's a small increase from last April, when the state's unemployment rate was 4.4.

The state Labor Department reported Thursday that New York City's unemployment rate was also 4.7 in April, up from 4.5 in March and down from 4.8 in April 2007.

The national unemployment rate was 5.0 percent in April.

Among individual counties, Hamilton County had the highest unemployment rate at 8.8 percent. The lowest county unemployment rate -- 3.2 percent -- was recorded in Tompkins County.

[kennynah]

This post will be merged into the "US Economic Data & News " thread..... Winston

=========================================

curious....why is this so???? enough liquidity....and not willing to borrow even at such depressed ~2% interest..

they expect fed to cut discount rate further in Jun ???


15 May 2008 20:45 GMT
Banks increase discount window borrowing to 13.4 bln usd as of Wednesday
WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - Banks increased their borrowing from the Federal Reserve's discount window, while primary dealers continued to cut back on their borrowing.

Approximately 13.4 bln usd in primary credit - or loans to banks - was outstanding as of Wednesday, up from 11.5 bln usd the previous Wednesday.

Primary dealers, who recently gained access to the Fed's discount window, borrowed less in this week compared to last. As of Wednesday, 14.5 bln usd was outstanding through the Fed's new primary dealer credit facility, less than the 16.3 bln usd outstanding the previous Wednesday. Primary dealers have been steadily cutting back on borrowing from the Fed's discount window for over a month.
Treasuries lent to dealers through the Fed's new 28-day Term Securities Lending Facility fell to 137.3 bln usd from 142.5 bln usd. Dealers have been steadily cutting back on these loans for the last three weeks.

[winston]

April housing starts, permits up more than forecast

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Construction starts on new U.S. homes rose by a surprisingly strong 8.2 percent in April and applications for new building permits turned up for the first time in five months, the Commerce Department said on Friday in a report showing that the hard-hit housing sector still had some spring vigor.

Starts in April ran at a 1.032-million-unit annual rate, up from a revised 954,000-unit rate in March, while permits gained 4.9 percent to 978,000 a year from a revised 932,000 in March.

That was a significantly stronger performance than anticipated by economists surveyed by Reuters who had forecast April starts at a 940,000-unit rate and permits at 920,000 a year.

Construction has suffered as the housing industry copes with a wave of foreclosures and with inventories of unsold homes stemming from a subprime mortgage crisis that has made lenders wary and put pressure on builders to curb their inventories.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and top Federal Reserve policy-makers have identified the housing downturn as the biggest single risk for the economy and Congress has been working feverishly on proposals for guaranteeing shaky mortgage loans to try to save homeowners from losing their homes.

On Thursday night, housing industry sources indicated that leaders of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee had reached a deal on a broad housing rescue plan in which mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will support a federal mortgage insurance fund.

The $300 billion fund would be run by the Federal Housing Administration and would offer loan guarantees to help refinance distressed mortgages, with borrowers agreeing to forgive portions of troubled loans.

[winston]

John Authers (Financial Times): What is message of US corporate earnings?

“What is Corporate America trying to tell us? In spite of a strangely positive reception from the markets, the first-quarter earnings season was bad both in absolute terms and relative to expectations. The latest running total from Thomson Reuters suggests that S&P 500 companies’ profits are on course to fall 17.4% compared with a year ago. As the quarter began, analysts had convinced themselves that profits would rise by more than 5%.

“This is mostly down to the horrors for financials’ earnings. But the energy sector has enjoyed bumper profits, thanks to similarly exceptional circumstances. Strip both sectors out and earnings growth for what remains has been an anaemic 2.8%. More companies have disappointed analysts than usual.

“The best guidance for the future may come from the earnings calls conducted by company executives. These have been handily collated by Goldman Sachs’ David Kostin into what he calls a Beige Book. The good news is that ‘decoupling’ holds good. Many were outspokenly positive about Latin America and China. At home, the strain for the US consumer most affected luxury goods retailers. This is still a ‘slowdown’ rather than a ‘recession’.

“These messengers may not be wholly reliable, of course. But if we believe them, then it seems the credit squeeze has not yet had an effect beyond American shores, and has not yet forced the US consumer into a recession. Commodity price rises have been serious but manageable. The question is though how long can that last?”

Source: John Authers, Financial Times, May 13, 2008.