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, 24 May 2013 08:33:22 -0400 Fri, 24 May 2013 08:33:22 -0400 Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured durable goods in April increased $7.2 billion or 3.3** percent to $222.6 billion.

April 2013: 3.3** % change
March 2013: -5.9** % change
]]> durable_goods Fri, 24 May 2013 08:33:22 -0400 New Residential Sales http://www.census.gov/newhomesales Sales of new single-family houses in April 2013 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 454,000. This is 2.3 percent (+/- 12.8%)* above the revised March 2013 estimate of 444,000.

April 2013: +2.3* % change
March 2013: +3.5** % change
]]> home_sales Thu, 23 May 2013 10:00:07 -0400 New Residential Construction http://www.census.gov/starts Privately-owned housing starts in April 2013 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 853,000. This is 16.5 percent (+/- 5.2%) below the revised March 2013 estimate of 1,021,000.

April 2013: -16.5 % change
March 2013: +5.4* % change
]]> housing_starts Thu, 16 May 2013 08:30:29 -0400 Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales http://www.census.gov/bussales U.S. total business end-of-month inventories for March 2013 were $1640.9 billion, virtually unchanged (+/- 0.1%)* from last month. U.S. total business sales were $1269.6 billion, down 1.1 percent (+/- 0.1%) from last month.

March 2013: 0.0* % change in inventories
February 2013: 0.0* % change in inventories
]]> business_sales Mon, 13 May 2013 10:05:38 -0400 Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services http://www.census.gov/retail U.S. retail and food services sales for April reached $419.0 billion, an increase of 0.1 percent (+/- 0.3%)* from the previous month.

April 2013: +0.1* % change
March 2013: -0.5 % change
]]> retail_sales Mon, 13 May 2013 08:36:56 -0400 Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories http://www.census.gov/wholesale/index.html March 2013 sales of merchant wholesalers were $414.7 billion, down 1.6 percent (+/-0.4%) from last month. End-of-month inventories were $503.1 billion, up 0.4 percent (+/-0.4%)* from last month.

March 2013: +0.4* % change in Inv
February 2013: -0.3 % change in Inv
]]> wholesale Thu, 09 May 2013 10:02:56 -0400 Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured goods in March decreased $19.5 billion or 4.0** percent to $467.3 billion.

March 2013: -4.0** % change
February 2013: 1.9** % change
]]> mfg_orders Fri, 03 May 2013 10:04:59 -0400 U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services http://www.census.gov/trade The Nation's international trade balance in goods and services improved to -$38.8 billion in March from -$43.6 billion in February (revised), as imports decreased more than exports.

March 2013: -38.8 $ billion
February 2013: -43.6 $ billion
]]> intl_trade Thu, 02 May 2013 08:32:19 -0400 Construction Spending http://www.census.gov/c30 Total construction activity for March 2013 ($856.7 billion) was 1.7 percent (+/-1.5%) below the revised February 2013 ($871.2 billion).

March 2013: -1.7 % change
February 2013: +1.5 % change
]]> construction_value Wed, 01 May 2013 10:01:00 -0400 Housing Vacancies and Homeownership http://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/ Homeownership Rate (HR)
The homeownership rate in the first quarter 2013 (65.0 percent) was lower than the first quarter 2012 rate (65.4 percent). The homeownership rate in the South was lower than the corresponding first quarter 2012 rate, while the rates in the Northeast, Midwest, and West were not statistically different from the rates a year ago.

Rental Vacancy Rate (RVR)
The rental vacancy rate in the first quarter 2013 (8.6 percent) was not statistically different from the first quarter 2012 rate (8.8 percent).

Homeowner Vacancy Rate (HVR)
The homeowner vacancy rate in the first quarter 2013 (2.1 percent) was not statistically different from the first quarter 2012 rate (2.2 percent).

1st Qtr 2013
(HR): 65.0 percent
1st Qtr 2012
(HR): 65.4 percent
]]> homeownership Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:12:45 -0400 Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade http://www.census.gov/econ/qfr/ After-tax profits for retail corporations with assets of $50 million and over were $23.1 billion for the fourth quarter 2012, up $7.8 (+/- 0.1) billion from third quarter 2012.

4th Qtr. 2012: 7.8 $ billion
3rd Qtr. 2012: -4.0 $ billion
]]> qfr_retail Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:06:49 -0400 Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining, Wholesale Trade, and Selected Service Industries http://www.census.gov/econ/qfr/ Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits were $142.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2012, up $7.6 (+/- 0.6) billion from third quarter of 2012.

4th Qtr. 2012: 7.6 $ billion
3rd Qtr. 2012: -11.8 $ billion
]]> qfr_trade Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:06:41 -0400 Quarterly Services Survey http://www.census.gov/qss U.S. information sector revenue for the fourth calendar quarter of 2012, adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes, was $309.7 billion, an increase of 3.2 percent (+/- 1.3) from the third quarter of 2012.

4th Qtr 2012: +3.2 % change
3rd Qtr 2012: +0.7* % change
]]> esbr075 Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:00:46 -0500