The Commerce Department said that gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2% in the third quarter following the 1.7% growth that was seen in the second quarter. The increase in GDP matched the expectations of economists. charts by RTTNews
The weekly jobless claims fell by 21,000 to 434,000 in the week ended Oct. 23, the lowest since early July. Additionally, the total number of people receiving unemployment insurance dropped to a two-year low; the number of people receiving extended payments fell; and the four-week moving average of claims fell 122,000 to 4.36 million in the week ended Oct. 16, the lowest since July. Broad unemployment rate (U-6) stands at 17.1 percent.
A report released by the Commerce Department showed that durable goods orders jumped 3.3% month-over-month in September, much better than the 1.8% increase expected by economists. The increase was mainly due to a 15.7% jump in transportation equipment orders. Excluding transportation equipment, orders fell 0.8%. Shipments of durable goods fell 0.4%. Non-defense capital goods orders – a key measure of capital spending – slid 0.6% following a 4.8% increase in August. However, shipments of this category of goods rose 0.4%.
In August, new home sales remained unchanged at 288,000 following an upward revision to July’s reading from 276,000. Inventories in terms of number of homes fell 3,000 to 206,000, marking the lowest level since 1968, while inventories measured in terms of months of supply edged down to 8.6 months from the previous month’s 8.7. At the same time, the median price of a new home fell 1.2% year-over-year to $204,700.
The Institute for Supply Management, Chicago said in its latest release that the index rose to 60.6, similar to the levels seen in September. Economists were projecting the index to dip to 58.Production and new orders increased for the second month in a row, while inventories built up for the first time in two months. There was modest expansion in the employment index to 54.6 from 53.4 in September.
