Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales   CHART

U.S. total business sales for September were $1,164.3 billion, down 2.0% from last month. Month-end inventories were $1,507.1 billion, down 0.2% from last month.

Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services   CHART

U.S. retail and food service sales for October reached $363.7 billion, a decrease of 2.8 percent from the previous month.

U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services   CHART

The Nation's international deficit in goods and services decreased to $56.5 billion in September from $59.1 billion (revised) in August, as imports decreased more than exports.

Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories   CHART

September 2008 sales of merchant wholesalers were $396.2 billion, down 1.5 percent from last month. End-of-month inventories were $444.2 billion, down 0.1 percent from last month.

Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders   CHART

New orders for manufactured goods in September decreased $11.2 billion or 2.5 percent to $432.0 billion.

Construction Spending   CHART

Total construction activity for September 2008 ($1,060.1 billion) was 0.3 percent below the revised August 2008 ($1,063.5 billion). Please see our web site for further details: http://www.census.gov/constructionspending

Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders   CHART

New orders for manufactured durable goods in September increased $1.6 billion or 0.8 percent to $207.8 billion.

Housing Vacancies and Homeownership   CHART

Homeownership Rate (HR)
The homeownership rate in the third quarter 2008 (67.9 percent) was not statistically differerent than the third quarter 2007 rate (68.2 percent). The homeownership rate in Northeast was lower than the corresponding rate a year ago, while rates in the other regions did not change significantly.

Rental Vacancy Rate (RVR)
The rental vacancy rate in third quarter 2008 (9.9 percent) was not statistically different from the third quarter 2007 rate (9.9 percent).

Homeowner Vacancy Rate (HVR)
The homeowner vacancy rate in third quarter 2008 (2.8 percent) was not statistically different from the third quarter 2007 rate (2.7 percent).

New Home Sales   CHART

Sales of new one-family houses in September 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000. This is 2.7% above the revised August 2008 estimate of 452,000.

Housing Starts/Building Permits   CHART

Privately-owned housing starts in September 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000. This is 6.3 percent below the revised August 2008 estimate of 872,000.

Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade   CHART

After-tax profits for retail corporations with assets greater than $50 million averaged 2.3 cents per dollar of sales for the second quarter 2008, up 0.1 (+/- 0.1) cents from the average of 2.2 cents for the first quarter 2008.

Quarterly Services Survey   CHART

U.S. Information sector revenue for the second quarter of 2008, not adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday or trading-day differences, or price changes, was $284.9 billion, an increase of 2.5 percent (+/- 0.5) from the first quarter of 2008.

Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining and Trade   CHART

Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits averaged 6.1 cents per dollar of sales for the second quarter of 2008, down 1.1 (+/- 0.1) cents from the average of 7.2 cents for the first quarter of 2008.