All Paper Economy

Initial jobless claims declined to 365,000 claims from last week’s revised 392,000 claims, while continued claims for unemployment benefits  declined by 53,000 resulting in an “insured” unemployment rate of 2.6 percent

Private employers added 119,000 jobs last month,  bringing the total employment level 1.70 percent above the level seen in April 2011.

The average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage  went unchanged at 3.92 percent since last week, while the purchase application volume increased 2.9 percent and the refinance application declined 0.7 percent over the same period.

Manufacturing activity improved in April. At 54.8 the purchasing manager’s composite index (PMI) rose 2.62 percent  since March, remaining 8.21 percent below the level seen a year earlier.

On a month-to-month basis, total residential spending increased a slight 0.68 percent from February and rose 7.42 percent above the level seen in March 2011 while remaining a whopping 63.91 percent below the peak level seen in 2006.

The first estimate of the first quarter Gross Domestic Product shows that on a year-over-year basis, real GDP increased 2.08 percent while the quarter-to-quarter non-annualized percent change was 0.55 percent.

Pending home sales improved notably in March with the seasonally adjusted national index climbing 4.1% since February and increasing 12.8% above the level seen in March 2011. 

Seasonally adjusted 'initial' unemployment claims declined to 388,000 from last week’s revised 389,000 , but seasonally adjusted 'continued' claims increased by 3,000 resulting in an 'insured' unemployment rate of 2.6 percent.

The average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage (from FHA and conforming GSE data) declined 2 basis points to 3.92 percent since last week while the purchase application volume increased 2.7 percent  and the refinance application declined 5.6 percent over the same period.

New home sales fell a steep 7.1 percent in March but rose 7.5 percent above last year's level.

The non-seasonally adjusted Composite-10 price index declined 0.78 percent since January while the Composite-20 index declined 0.76 percent over the same period resulting in the lowest level seen to on the Composite-10 since April 2003 and the largest peak decline seen since the nearly six year old housing bust began in 2006.

Radar logic, a composite  of home price indices, shows national index increasing 0.71 percent  since January but falling 3.76 percent below the level seen in February 2011.

Initial jobless claims declined to 386,000 from last week’s revised 388,000, while seasonally adjusted continued claims increased by 26,000, resulting in an “insured” unemployment rate of 2.6 percent.

The commercial paper market generally appears to be trending lower, contracting at a rate of 15.23% on a year-over-year basis to $932.60 billion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank. 

The average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage declined 4 basis points to 3.94 percent since last week while the purchase application volume declined a notable 11.2 percent and the refinance application umped 13.5 percent over the same period.

Total industrial production remaining nearly unchanged since February but rising 3.78 percent above the level seen in March 2011.

Single family housing permits declined a notable 3.5 percent from February to 462,000 single family units, but increased 17.6 percent above the level seen in March 2011.

The current activity index fell to 6.56, while future activity declined to 43.12.

Retail sales increased 0.8 percent from February, and 6.5 percent on a year over year basis. 

the average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage declined 4 basis points to 3.98 percent since last week while the purchase application volume declined 0.5 percent and the refinance application slumped 3.1 percent over the same period.