U.S. Census Bureau Press Release:

“total January exports of $142.7 billion and imports of $180.0 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $37.3 billion, down from $39.9 billion in December, revised.”

Imports and Exports have been on the rise. However still below previous recession levels. The bulk of the trade deficit is a result of China and oil.

The graph from CalculatedRiskBlog.com shows the monthly U.S. exports and imports in dollars through January 2010.

Share on Facebook

The graph below shows the stock market’s growth, stagnation, and decline with respect to U.S Presidents.

You be the judge!

//

Share on Facebook

ADP Press Release
Nonfarm private employment decreased 20,000 from January to February 2010 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP National Employment Report®. The estimated change of employment from December 2009 to January 2010 was revised down, from a decline of 22,000 to a decline of 60,000. The February employment decline was the smallest since employment began falling in February of 2008.
Two large blizzards smothered parts of the east coast during the reference period for the BLS establishment survey. The adverse weather had only a very small effect on today’s ADP Report due to the methodology used to construct it. However, the adverse weather is widely expected to depress the BLS estimate of the monthly change in employment for February, but boost it for March. Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to expect the BLS estimate for February (due out this Friday) to be less than today’s ADP Report even though the BLS estimate will include the hiring of temporary Census workers not captured in the ADP Report.

Share on Facebook

New home sales in the U.S fell to a record low in January.

The Census Bureau report:
Sales of new single-family houses in January 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 11.2 percent (±14.0%)* below the revised December rate of 348,000 and is 6.1 percent (±15.1%)* below the January 2009 estimate of 329,000.
Homebuilders are facing tough competition given that the market is flooded with foreclosed homes. To add to there problems unemployment remains high at 9.7% and companies are slow to hire.

New home sales break down by regions:

Northeast: declined 35%
West: declined 12%
South: declined 9.5%
Midwest: rose 2.1%

Share on Facebook

Here is an interesting chart from Visual Economics showing GDP vs Expenditures. However, inflation doesn’t seem to be represented in this data.

Share on Facebook

Census Bureau press release: New Residential Construction   

HOUSING STARTS   

Privately-owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000. This is 2.8 percent (±11.5%)* above the revised December estimate of 575,000 and is 21.1 percent (±12.3%) above the January 2009 rate of 488,000.   

Single-family housing starts in January were at a rate of 484,000; this is 1.5 percent (±11.3%)* above the revised December figure of 477,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 100,000.   
 

HOUSING COMPLETIONS   

Privately-owned housing completions in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 659,000. This is 12.4 percent (±7.8%) below the revised December estimate of 752,000 and is 15.3 percent (±10.5%) below the January 2009 rate of 778,000.   

Single-family housing completions in January were at a rate of 427,000; this is 12.9 percent (±7.1%) below the revised December rate of 490,000. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 215,000.   

The upside; the low level of housing starts is a result of the flooded housing inventory which is currently being absorbed. Why is that good news? Well the housing market can’t recover without decreasing the inventory.  

The downside; the housing market will recover slower than the overall economy, as result of a high unemployment rate and uncertain job security.  

Share on Facebook

Press release from the Federal Reserve: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
Industrial production increased 0.9 percent in January following a gain of 0.7 percent in December. Manufacturing production rose 1.0 percent in January, with increases for most of its major components, while the indexes for both utilities and mining advanced 0.7 percent. At 101.1 percent of its 2002 average, output in January was 0.9 percent above its year-earlier level. The capacity utilization rate for total industry rose 0.7 percentage point to 72.6 percent, a rate 8.0 percentage points below its average from 1972 to 2009.
Note: Since December of 2008 this is the highest level for industrial production. However, still far below pre-recession levels.

Share on Facebook

Here is a comparison of the current and past presidents impact on the American Economy.

Keep in mind President Obama’s statistics may be misleading, since the economic crisis peaked during the transition of power between Bush and Obama.

Based on these charts Americas most prosperous years were under the Clinton Administration. It doesn’t matter if you like him or hate him, the data doesn’t lie!

Share on Facebook

Total retail sales increased 0.5% in January up 4.7% from January 2009, reported by the Commerce Department. Additionally December revised data indicated stronger spending for December (-0.3% -> -0.2%) and November (1.8% -> 2%).

However, high unemployment and uncertainty in job security in the U.S. has tightened consumer spending.

Here’s a brief rundown of January sales;

• Retail & Food Services -> 0.5%
• Auto Sales -> -0.1%
• Department Stores -> 1.5%
• Electronic/Appliance -> 1.2%
• Clothing Stores -> 0.3%

Share on Facebook

The Department of Labor reports unemployment (initial claims) statistics as follows.

“In the week ending Feb. 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 440,000, a decrease of 43,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 483,000. The 4-week moving average was 468,500, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 469,500.”

The 4 week moving averaging of unemployment claims is at its lowest level since September 2008. However, that figure is still high and continued job losses may still be on the horizon.

Share on Facebook