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Minnesota Mortgage Blog

July 14th, 2011 2:32 PM

Employment news was a key news maker last week, starting with the unemployment rate for June, which hit 9.2 percent (14.1 million workers), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This was essentially unchanged over May. Since March, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 545,000, and the unemployment rate has risen by 0.4 percentage point.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged in June. Following gains averaging 215,000 per month from February through April, employment has been essentially flat for the past two months. The average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased by 0.1 hour to 34.3 hours in June.

Employment in most major private-sector industries changed little in June, while government employment continued to trend down, the Bureau said. Analysts expressed worries that no improvement in the unemployment rate could cool off any chance of a recovery.

Looking at more recent employment activity, initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending July 2 dipped to 418,000, down 14,000 from the previous week, the Employment and Training administration’s reported last week. The total number of unemployed workers covered by unemployment insurance for the week ending June 25 decreased to 3,681,000, down 43,000 from the preceding week.

While June employment was flat, June retail sales saw some positive activity, showing a a 6.5 percent gain, according to the last week’s Thomson Reuters same-store sales index. The regular update of major retail chains included some strong showings from Costco, which saw an 14 percent gain; Saks, which increased 11.9 percent; Limited, which saw a 12 percent increase; and Neiman Marcus Inc., which was up 12.5 percent.

Other key consumer news was May’s consumer credit figures from the Federal Reserve, which increased at an annual rate of 2.5 percent for the month. Revolving credit. such as credit cards, increased at an annual rate of 5 percent, while nonrevoling credit, such as student or car loans, increased at an annual rate of 1.25 percent.

Meanwhile, new orders for manufactured goods placed in May increased $3.5 billion (0.8 percent) to $445.3 billion, the Census Bureau reported last week. The increase was welcome news after April’s 0.9 percent decrease. Factory order shipments also increased, showing a $0.4 billion or 0.1 percent gain to $443.9 billion. Unfilled factory orders increased $7.7 billion or 0.9 percent in May to $860.9 billion.

This week, we can expect:

Tuesday — Trade balance figures for May from the Census Bureau.
Wednesday — Export and import prices for June from the Census Bureau and the June Treasury budget from the Treasury Department.
Thursday — Business inventories for June and June retail sales data from the Census Bureau, as well as the Producer Price Index for June from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Friday — The Consumer Price Index for June from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and industrial production and capacity use for June from the Federal Reserve.

Posted by Jamie Larkin, Mortgage Advisor on July 14th, 2011 2:32 PMPost a Comment (0)

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