Washington DC -January 5- The U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced today that construction spending during November 2008 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,078.4 billion, 0.6 percent (±1.6%)* below the revised October estimate of $1,085.3 billion. The November figure is 3.3 percent (±2.2%) below the November 2007 estimate of $1,115.3 billion.

During the first 11 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $998.4 billion, 5.3 percent (±1.3%) below the $1,054.3 billion for the same period in 2007.

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Washington DC -December 30- Consumer Confidence declined to a new all-time low in December, and now stands at 38.0, down from 44.7 in November.

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Washington DC -December 24- In the week ending Dec. 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 586,000, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 556,000. The 4-week moving average was 558,000, an increase of 13,750 from the previous week’s revised average of 544,250.

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Washington DC -December 24- New orders for manufactured durable goods in November 2008 fell 1.0% from the prior month, to $186.9 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Overall shipments declined 2.6%, to $195.9 billion, while capital goods shipments fell 1.0%, to $73 billion.  Inventories rose 0.5%, to $342.9 billion.

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Washington DC -December 24- Personal income in November 2008 fell 0.2% from October, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rose 0.6%, while nominal PCE fell 0.6%.  Real disposable personal income (DPI) rose 1.0%, while nominal DPI fell 0.1%.  The personal savings rate as a percentage of DPI was 2.8%.

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Washington DC –December 23– Existing-home sales weakened against a backdrop of an eroding economy, according to the National Association of Realtors^®.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – fell 8.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of 4.49 million units in November from a downwardly revised level of 4.91 million in October, and are 10.6 percent below the 5.02 million-unit pace in November 2007

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Washington DC -December 23- Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008, (that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to final estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2.8 percent.

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