U.S. Census Bureau Economic Briefing Room http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/briefroom/BriefRm Key National Economic Indicators Published by the U.S. Census Bureau en Fri May 9 12:41:52 2008 GMT U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services http://www.census.gov/trade The Nation's international deficit in goods and services decreased to $58.2 billion in March from $61.7 billion (revised) in February, as imports decreased more than exports.

March 2008: -58.2 $ billion
February 2008: -61.7 $ billion ]]> Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories http://www.census.gov/wholesale/index.html March 2008 sales of merchant wholesalers were $384.3 billion, up 1.6 percent from last month. End-of-month inventories were $420.8 billion, down 0.1 percent from last month.

March 2008: -0.1 % change in Inv
February 2008: 0.9 % change in Inv ]]> Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured goods in March increased $5.9 billion or 1.4 percent to $432.3 billion.

March 2008: 1.4 % change
February 2008: -0.9 % change ]]> Construction Spending http://www.census.gov/c30 Total construction activity for March 2008 ($1,123.5 billion) was 1.1 percent below the revised February 2008 ($1,136.5 billion). Please see our web site for further details: http://www.census.gov/constructionspending

March 2008: -1.1 % change
February 2008: 0.4 % change ]]> Housing Vacancies and Homeownership http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/hvs.html

Homeownership Rate (HR)
The homeownership rate in the first quarter 2008 (67.8 percent) was lower than the first quarter 2007 rate (68.4 percent). The homeownership rate in South was lower than the corresponding rate a year ago, while the rate in the other regions did not change significantly.

Rental Vacancy Rate (RVR)
The rental vacancy rate in first quarter 2008 (10.1 percent) remained about the same as the first quarter 2007 rate (also 10.1 percent).

Homeowner Vacancy Rate (HVR)
The homeowner vacancy rate in first quarter 2008 (2.9 percent) was not statistically different from the first quarter 2007 rate (2.8 percent).

1st Qtr 2008
(HR): 67.8 percent
1st Qtr 2007
(HR): 68.4 percent ]]> New Home Sales http://www.census.gov/newhomesales Sales of new one-family houses in March 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 526,000. This is 8.5% below the revised February 2008 figure of 575,000.

March 2008: -8.5 % change
February 2008: -5.3 % change ]]> Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured durable goods in March decreased $0.7 billion or 0.3 percent to $212.2 billion.

March 2008: -0.3 % change
February 2008: -0.9 % change ]]> Housing Starts/Building Permits http://www.census.gov/starts Privately-owned housing starts in March 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 947,000. This is 11.9 percent below the revised February 2008 estimate of 1,075,000.

March 2008: -11.9 % change
February 2008: -0.7 % change ]]> Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales http://www.census.gov/bussales U.S. total business sales for December were $1,142.8 billion, down 1.1% from last month. Month-end inventories were $1,468.4 billion, up 0.6% from last month.

February 2008: -1.1 % Change in sales
January 2008: +1.3 % Change in sales ]]> Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services http://www.census.gov/retail U.S. retail and food service sales for March reached $381.4 billion, an increase of 0.2 percent from the previous month.

March 2008: 0.2 % change
February 2008: -0.4 % change ]]> Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining and Trade http://www.census.gov/csd/qfr/ Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits averaged 7.7 cents per dollar of sales for the fourth quarter of 2007, up 2.3 (+/- 0.1) cents from the average of 5.4 cents for the third quarter of 2007.

4th Qtr 2007: +2.3 cents
3rd Qtr 2007: -2.7 cents ]]> Quarterly Services Survey http://www.census.gov/qss U.S. Information sector revenue for the fourth quarter of 2007, not adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday or trading-day differences, or price changes, was $292.4 billion, an increase of 5.1 percent (+/- 0.7) from the third quarter of 2007.

4th Qtr 2007: 5.1 % change
3rd Qtr 2007: 0.0 % change ]]> Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade http://www.census.gov/csd/qfr/ After-tax profits for retail corporations with assets greater than $50 million averaged 2.6 cents per dollar of sales for the third quarter 2007, down 0.9 cent from the average of 3.5 cents for the second quarter 2007.

3rd Qtr. 2007: -0.9 cents
2nd Qtr. 2007: +0.6 cents ]]>