BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, DAILY REPORT, MAY 24, 2002:
The economy snapped back from last year's recession, growing at an
annual rate of 5.6 percent during the first quarter, the strongest
performance in nearly 2 years. The latest reading on the first-quarter
gross domestic product, which measures the total output of goods and
services produced within the United States -- showed that the economy grew a
little less briskly than the 5.8 percent rate estimated a month ago, the
Commerce Department reports today. Even so, the revised first-quarter
performance was remarkable, given that the economy actually shrank at a 1.3
percent rate in the third quarter of 2001. GDP grew at a below-par 1.7
percent rate in the fourth quarter (Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press,
<http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/412347p-3285934c.html>).
Sales of new homes in the United States increased 1.0 percent in
April, the Commerce Department said today, as low mortgage rates kept luring
buyers. New single-family homes sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate
of 915,000 units last month, a climb from the upwardly revised pace of
906,000 units in March. April home sales exceeded the expectations of
analysts polled by Reuters, who had forecast a pace of 882,000 units
(Reuters,
<http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2002-05-24-new-homes.htm>).
Companies ordered more equipment in April, but the increase wasn't
enough to signal a decisive -- and greatly anticipated -- end to the long
drought in business investment. Government data showed a 1.9 percent gain
in orders for nondefense capital goods, one proxy for capital spending..
The advance suggested the painful decline in business spending last year has
started to reverse itself. But the increase wasn't enough to erase a 3.1
percent drop in March, and volatility in orders data in recent months has
made it hard to identify a clearly positive trend. Economists are focusing
on capital spending because they believe business investment must pick up
sharply before a full-fledged recovery takes hold (The Wall Street Journal,
page A2).
New claims filed with state agencies for unemployment benefits
dropped 9,000 to a total of 416,000 during the week ending May 18, according
to the Employment and Training Administration of the Department of Labor.
Extended benefits were available in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington
during the week ending May 4 (Daily Labor Report, page D-1).
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