Moody S Analytics

WASHINGTON - After three straight weeks of elevated readings, first-time jobless claims fell by a much bigger-than-expected 27,000 last week to 365,000, the Labor Department said. The drop was the largest in nearly a year and brought the weekly count of initial filings for jobless benefits down to levels seen in March. The report eased concerns ahead of Friday's important monthly jobs report for April. The filings for jobless benefits, released Thursday, give an indication of layoff trends.

WASHINGTON - Residential construction starts in January fell sharply from last year's soaring year-end activity, the government said Wednesday. The pattern in the latest housing data is similar to that of other major economic indicators of late. Job growth, industrial production and retail sales all have weakened at the beginning of this year from upwardly revised numbers late last year, suggesting that the economy was stronger at the end of the fourth quarter than initially thought but is off to a slow start in 2013, possibly as businesses worried about the uncertain outlook on government spending and taxes.

A weak second-quarter economic report made it clear that the country remains stuck in a painfully slow recovery for the foreseeable future. Analysts now say that the economy for the rest of this year will look much like it does today, with the November election taking place in an economic middle zone -- neither robust growth nor a plunge into recession. Fresh government data Friday confirmed that economic growth slowed in the second quarter as consumers, despite seeing relief from lower gasoline prices, pulled back on spending for cars and other big-ticket items.

WASHINGTON - U.S. manufacturers have been a key source of job growth in the slow economic recovery. But the factory doors slammed shut last month to new hires, creating another barrier to bringing down the high unemployment rate. With the European recession helping reduce demand for U.S. exports, the pace of manufacturing job growth has slowed in recent months. The steam disappeared from the manufacturing sector in August amid increasing anxiety by factory owners about tax increases and large government spending cuts looming next year.

WASHINGTON - Residential construction starts in January fell sharply from last year's soaring year-end activity, the government said Wednesday. The pattern in the latest housing data is similar to that of other major economic indicators of late. Job growth, industrial production and retail sales all have weakened at the beginning of this year from upwardly revised numbers late last year, suggesting that the economy was stronger at the end of the fourth quarter than initially thought but is off to a slow start in 2013, possibly as businesses worried about the uncertain outlook on government spending and taxes.

WASHINGTON - U.S. manufacturers have been a key source of job growth in the slow economic recovery. But the factory doors slammed shut last month to new hires, creating another barrier to bringing down the high unemployment rate. With the European recession helping reduce demand for U.S. exports, the pace of manufacturing job growth has slowed in recent months. The steam disappeared from the manufacturing sector in August amid increasing anxiety by factory owners about tax increases and large government spending cuts looming next year.

The nation added 117,000 jobs last month and the official unemployment rate dipped slightly, but the underlying data in the latest government report provided more evidence of the economy's continuing weakness and stoked fears of another recession. The new jobs figure — stronger than many analysts had predicted — was the highest tally since April and helped pull the July unemployment rate down to 9.1% from 9.2% in June, reversing three straight months of increases. But welcome as the gains were Friday, they still left the average job growth over the last three months at just 72,000 — about half of what's needed each month to keep pace with the growing population of workers.

With the economy the most important issue in the presidential campaign, it was no surprise that President Obama's Republican opponents tried to take some of the shine off Friday's surprisingly bright jobs report.  The Labor Department report said that the economy added 243,000 jobs in January, the most in nine months, and that the unemployment rate dropped to a three-year low of 8.3%. But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, fresh from his big win Saturday in the Nevada caucuses, told a throng of supporters that the jobless rate has now been above Obama's own "red line of 8%" for 36 months.

The good news for the U.S. economy is that a double-dip recession looks increasingly remote. The bad news: It can't seem to get out of first gear. Employers added just 80,000 jobs in October, about 20,000 less than economists expected, and far fewer than the 125,000 jobs needed to keep pace with population growth and younger adults joining the labor force. The unemployment rate slipped to 9% from 9.1% the month before, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, but the rate is still double what it was five years ago. "We are on the path to recovery, but to regain the 8.5 million jobs that we lost is going to be a long way down the road," said Esmael Adibi, an economist at Chapman University.

WASHINGTON - The typical American family lost nearly 40% of its wealth from 2007 to 2010 as the Great Recession reduced household net worth to a level not seen since the early 1990s. The net worth of the median U.S. family - one with an equal number of families richer and poorer - fell to $77,300 in 2010 from $126,400 three years earlier, after adjusting for inflation, the Federal Reserve said in a new report Monday. The drop, much steeper than previous Fed quarterly reports have suggested, underscores the severity of the 2007-09 recession that decimated the housing market and resulted in massive layoffs that slashed people's incomes.

A weak second-quarter economic report made it clear that the country remains stuck in a painfully slow recovery for the foreseeable future. Analysts now say that the economy for the rest of this year will look much like it does today, with the November election taking place in an economic middle zone -- neither robust growth nor a plunge into recession. Fresh government data Friday confirmed that economic growth slowed in the second quarter as consumers, despite seeing relief from lower gasoline prices, pulled back on spending for cars and other big-ticket items.

New claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, the Labor Department said in an encouraging sign for the struggling job market. Initial jobless claims — an indicator of layoff trends — had risen for three straight weeks last month, reaching a high of 389,000 in the week that ended May 26. And sure enough, the jobs report for the month of May turned out to be every bit as gloomy, with the economy having created just 69,000 jobs and the...

With the economy the most important issue in the presidential campaign, it was no surprise that President Obama's Republican opponents tried to take some of the shine off Friday's surprisingly bright jobs report.  The Labor Department report said that the economy added 243,000 jobs in January, the most in nine months, and that the unemployment rate dropped to a three-year low of 8.3%. But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, fresh from his big win Saturday in the Nevada caucuses, told a throng of supporters that the jobless rate has now been above Obama's own "red line of 8%" for 36 months.

The good news for the U.S. economy is that a double-dip recession looks increasingly remote. The bad news: It can't seem to get out of first gear. Employers added just 80,000 jobs in October, about 20,000 less than economists expected, and far fewer than the 125,000 jobs needed to keep pace with population growth and younger adults joining the labor force. The unemployment rate slipped to 9% from 9.1% the month before, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday, but the rate is still double what it was five years ago. "We are on the path to recovery, but to regain the 8.5 million jobs that we lost is going to be a long way down the road," said Esmael Adibi, an economist at Chapman University.

The nation added 117,000 jobs last month and the official unemployment rate dipped slightly, but the underlying data in the latest government report provided more evidence of the economy's continuing weakness and stoked fears of another recession. The new jobs figure — stronger than many analysts had predicted — was the highest tally since April and helped pull the July unemployment rate down to 9.1% from 9.2% in June, reversing three straight months of increases. But welcome as the gains were Friday, they still left the average job growth over the last three months at just 72,000 — about half of what's needed each month to keep pace with the growing population of workers.

Stocks and housing prices continue to rise, but consumers are not feeling all that good about the state of the U.S. economy. Confidence among U.S. consumers fell more than forecast in March as Washington's budget battle soured Americans' views of the economic outlook, Bloomberg News reported. The Conference Board's index declined to 59.7 from a revised three-month high of 68 in February, the New York-based private research group reported Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had projected the March measure would fall to 67.5.