Adam Horak's Blog – December 2008 Archive (8)

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in November decreased $1.8 billion or 1.0 percent to $186.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the fourth consecutive monthly decrease and followed an 8.4 percent October decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.2 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 0.9 percent.



Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in November, down four consecutive months, decreased $5.3… Continue

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT



SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA



In the week ending Dec. 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 554,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 575,000. The 4-week moving average was 543,750, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's revised average of 541,000.



The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.3 percent for the week ending Dec. 6, unchanged… Continue

The European Central Bank rewidened its interest rate corridor on Thursday and cut the return it gives banks for holding cash at the ECB as it bids to prod interbank money markets back to normality.



In a statement after its mid-month non-rate policy meeting, the bank's governing council also said it would carry on lending commercial banks as much money as they wanted for as long as necessary.



"As of 21 January, the rate of the marginal lending facility will be increased… Continue

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION: NOVEMBER 2008





Nonfarm payroll employment fell sharply (-533,000) in November, and

the unemployment rate rose from 6.5 to 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor

Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. November's

drop in payroll employment followed declines of 403,000 in September and

320,000 in October, as revised. Job losses were large and widespread

across the major industry sectors in… Continue

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT



SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA



In the week ending Nov. 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 509,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 530,000. The 4-week moving average was 524,500, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average of 518,250.



The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.1 percent for the week ending Nov. 22, an… Continue

November 2008 Non-Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®

NMI (Non-Manufacturing Index) at 37.3%





DO NOT CONFUSE THIS NATIONAL REPORT with the various regional purchasing reports released across the country. The national report's information reflects the entire United States, while the regional reports contain primarily regional data from their local vicinities. Also, the information in the regional reports is not used in calculating the results of the national report. The… Continue

PRODUCTIVITY AND COSTS

Third Quarter 2008, revised





The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor today

reported revised productivity data--as measured by output per hour of all

persons--for the third quarter of 2008. The seasonally adjusted annual rates

of productivity growth in the third quarter were:





1.5 percent in the business sector and

1.3 percent in the nonfarm business sector.





In both sectors,… Continue

ADP NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT REPORT SHOWS U.S.

EMPLOYMENT DECREASED BY 250,000 PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS IN

NOVEMBER

Largest decrease in private sector employment since November of 2002

private sector employment decreased by 250,000 in November.

The ADP National Employment Report, created by ADP® Employer Services, a division

of Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP), is based on actual payroll data and measures the change in total nonfarm private

employment each… Continue