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Retail sales showed a notable 1.1 percent increase from January and an increase of 6.5 percent on a year-over-year basis.

Workers unemployed 27 weeks or more declined to 5.426 million or 42.6 percent of all unemployed workers

in February “total unemployment” including all marginally attached workers declined to 14.9 percent  from the prior month's level of 15.1 percent, while the traditionally reported unemployment rate went flat at 8.3 percent.

Initial jobless claime increased to 362,000 claims from last week’s revised 354,000 claims while seasonally adjusted “continued” claims increased by 10,000 resulting in an “insured” unemployment rate of 2.7 percent.

ADP released the latest installment of their National Employment Report, indicating that the situation for private employment in the U.S. improved in February as private employers added 216,000 jobs in the month. 

The latest data is showing that the average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage went flat at 3.96% since last week while the purchase application volume increased 2.1% and the refinance application declined 2.0% over the same period.

In January, 3.08 percent of non-credit enhanced loans went seriously delinquent.

On a month-to-month basis, total residential spending increased 1.78 percent from December and rose 6.73 percent above the level seen in January 2011.

The business activity index increased 5.21 percent since January but remained 6.43 percent below the level seen a year earlier.

227,922 recipients were added to the food stamps program in December 2011 – a 5.52 percent increase since 2010.

Initial jobless claims declined to 351,000 claims from last week's 353,000 claims, while continued jobless claims fell by 2,000. 

The fourth-quarter GDP report indicated that the economy is growing at a faster pace than originally thought, with real GDP increasing at an annualized rate of 3.0 percent from the third quarter of 2011.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped 2 basis points to 3.965 percent since last week, while the purchase application volume increased 0.9 percent and the refinance application declined 2.2 percent over the same period.

The latest release of the S&P/Case-Shiller (CSI) home price indices for December reported that the Composite-10 price index declined 1.08 percent since November while the Composite-20 index declined 1.11 percent over the same period.

Pending home sales have improved,  with the national index climbing 2 percent since December while increasing 8 percent above the level seen in January 2011. Is this a sign of stabilization in the housing market?

The US Census Department's monthly New Residential Home Sales Report for January showed a monthly decline,  with sales dropping 0.97 percent  since December but rising 3.55 percent above the level seen in January 2011.

Nationally, home prices increased 0.71 percent since November but declined 1.32 percent  below the level seen in December 2010.

Initial jobless claims went unchanged at 351,000 claims, but  “continued” claims for jobless benefits declined by 52,000.

Single family home sales increased 3.8 percent from December and rose 2.3 percent above the level seen in January 2011.

The average rate for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage went unchanged at 3.98 percent since last week while the purchase application volume declined 2.9 percent and the refinance application declined 4.8 percent over the same period.