All Paper Economy

The latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey, which identifies trends across manufacturing executives, showed a deceleration of current assessments of manufacturing activity and an improvement in future assessments of manufacturing activity.

Retail sales rose 0.9 percent from July 2012. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales rose 4.7 percent.

Industrial production declined 1.16 percent since July but rose 2.8 percent above the level of industrial production seen in August 2011.

Jobless claims jumped to 382,000 claims from a revised 367,000 claims for the prior week, according to today's jobless claims report.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined to 3.62 percent since last week while the purchase application volume increased 8 percent.

Job openings declined 2.06 percent since June, climbing 7.65 percent above the level seen a year ago, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job hires declined 1.68 percent from June but rose 1.73 percent above the level seen in July 2011.

All measures of single family delinquency continued to decline in July, according to the latest Fannie Mae Monthly Summary.

In June, the price of residential properties in Hong Kong increased 1.18% since May and climbed 6.64% above the level seen in June 2011. Prices continue to rise each month, according to new data from the University of Hong Kong.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more declined to 5.033 million or 40.0 percent  of all unemployed workers while the median number of weeks unemployed jumped to 18.0 weeks The average stay on unemployment climbed to 39.2 weeks.

173,612 recipients were added to the food stamps program in June, according to the latest data from the Department of Agriculture.

The total unemployment rate includes both the traditional unemployment rate as well as marginally attached workers. The traditional unemployment rate also decreased in August, down to 8.1 percent.

While the overall non-manufacturing index increased, the business activity index declined 2.8 percent since July, according to a new report from the Institute for Supply Management.

The new jobs mean an increase of 1.96 percent in the total employment level. Small to mid-sized service providing jobs showed the most growth.

Initial jobless claims declined to 365,000 over the past week while continued jobless claims declined by 6,000.

The latest data from the Mortgage Bankers Association show that mortgage rates fell to 3.66 percent over the past week.

The purchasing manager’s composite index (PMI), an indicator of manufacturing activity, rose to 49.6 since July, 5.52 percent below the level in 2011.

Construction spending in the residential sector declined 1.58 percent from June, but construction spending rose 17.47 percent above the level seen in July 2011. Still, that's a whopping 60.88 percent below the peak level seen in 2006.

The consumer sentiment index ticked up to 74.3  in August, with inflation expectations rising to 3.6 percent.

Unemployment claims report for this week indicated that  'initial'  unemployment claims went flat at 374,000.  while  'continued' claims declined by 5,000, resulting in an 'insured' unemployment rate of 2.6 percent.

Pending home sales improved with the seasonally adjusted national index climbing 2.4 percent since June while increasing 12.4 percent above the level seen in July 2011.