The State of the Economy: Friday 11/30/12

StateoftheMarkets Economic Roundup

At StateoftheMarkets.com, one of our primary goals is to provide you, the individual investor, with the tools to be more successful in the stock market. While economic stats may be viewed as a bit dull to many, keeping on top of the trend of the economic data is a vital part of staying in tune with the current environment of stock market.

In order to help you stay up to date on all the important economic data, we provide a "State of the Economy" roundup each trading day. The report summarizes the day's important economic data in an 'executive summary' quick-read format and then provides links to the most recent data, sorted by category.

Let's start with today's economic releases...

• Chicago PMI Moves Back Above 50 in November, But...
  It appears that the New Orders component was a problem...
  
• Personal Income and Spending Below Expectations in October
  The latest on the state of the consumer shows incomes were flat and spending fell...

The State of the Economy: By Category

Below are the most recent reports on the key economic data. The goal of sorting the reports by economic category is to make it easier to spot the trend of the data.

The State of the Jobs Market:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Improvement Slowing

• Weekly Jobless Claims Improve 23K
  
• Jobs Report Surprises to the Upside in October
  
• Challenger Planned Job Cuts Surge in October
  
• ADP Employment Report Shows Private Sector Job Growth Continue in October
  
• Jobs Report Shows Unemployment Rate Dives to 7.8% in September

The State of the Housing Market:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Improving

• Pending Homes Sales Surge in October
  
• Case-Shiller Home Price Index Up in September
  
• FHFA House Price Index Rose +0.2% in September
  
• Housing Starts Hit 4-Year High; Permits Pull Back in October
  
• Existing Home Sales Up +2.1% in October
  
• NAHB Homebuilder Confidence Up Again in November
  
• Construction Spending Up +0.6% in September
  
• New Home Sales Up +5.7% in September

The State of the Consumer:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Improving

• Personal Income and Spending Below Expectations in October
  
• Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index Improves
  
• Consumer Confidence Hits 4.5-Year High in November
  
• University of Michigan Sentiment Index (Final Reading) Holds Steady in November
  
• Retail Sales Pull Back in October; Sandy Gets Blame
  
• University of Michigan Sentiment Reading Best since Sept 2007

The State of the Economic Growth:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Slow Growth

• U.S. GDP Improves to +2.7% in Q2
  
• Durable Goods Orders Surprise to Upside in October
  
• Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index Up Nicely in November
  
• Chicago Fed National Activity Index Down in October
  
• LEI Up +0.2% in October
  
• Philly Fed Index Reverses Lower in Nov; Sandy Blamed
  
• Wholesale Inventories Uptick in September
  
• U.S. Trade Deficit Improves in September

The State of the Manufacturing Sector:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Bottoming?

• Chicago PMI Moves Back Above 50 in November, But...
  
• Industrial Productin, Capacity Utilization Falter in October. But...
  
• Empire Manufacturing stayed weak in November but...
  
• Factory Orders Rebound in September
  
• ISM Manufacturing Index At Best Level in 5 Months
  
• Richmond Fed: Manufacturing Activity Pulled Back in October

The State of the Services Sector:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Slow Growth

• Richmond Fed Index (Services Sector) Improved in November
  
• ISM Non-Manufacturing (Services Sector) Index Below Consensus in October, But...
  
• ISM Non-Manufacturing Index Improves in September, But...

The State of Inflation:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Stable

• Consumer Price Index Shows Inflation Remains Tame in October
  
• PPI Falls in October
  
• Import Prices Up in October, Export Prices Down
  
• Unit Labor Costs fall in Q3
  
• Employment Cost Index Below Consensus

The State of Small Business:
Current Trend of Recent Data: Neutral

• NFIB Small Business Rises in October
  
• NFIB: Small Business Optimism Holds Steady in September

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