Latest Economic News From The U.S. & Canada
- According to the Department of Commerce, after expanding 3.9 percent in the second quarter, the United States economy grew at just a 1.5 percent annualized rate in the third quarter of 2015. The department said, “The deceleration in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and decelerations in exports, in nonresidential fixed investment, in PCE [personal consumption expenditures], in state and local government spending, and in residential fixed investment that were partly offset by a deceleration in imports.”
- The Canadian economy grew at a 0.1 percent rate in August, down from 0.3 percent growth in July and 0.4 percent growth in June. (The reading was on par with analysts’ predictions, however.) According to The Toronto Star, the manufacturing, retail trade, mining and oil and gas extraction sectors all expanded in August. The manufacturing sector grew 0.4 percent.
- The Dallas Federal Reserve said its manufacturing survey for Texas fell to -12.7 in October from -9.7 in September. The new orders index fell to -7.6 from -4.6, but the capacity utilization, production and employment indices all increased. Meanwhile, the Richmond Federal Reserve said its manufacturing index for the Central Atlantic states increased to -1 in October from -5 in September as the number of new orders and employment both improved.
- The number of Americans who filed for federal unemployment benefits for the first time rose to 260,000 for the week that ended Oct. 24 from 259,000 the week before. The four-week moving average of first-time claims fell, however, declining to 259,250 from 263,350. (That figure was the lowest since December 1973.) The number of Americans who continued to file for federal benefits also fell, dropping to 2.144 million for the week that ended Oct. 17 from 2.181 million the week before. That figure was at its lowest since November 2000.
- In other economic news: the number of new homes sold in the United States fell 11.5 percent from August 2015 to September 2015, but were still up two percent between September 2014 and September 2015; the Conference Board index of consumer confidence fell to 97.6 in October from 102.6 in September while the University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading rose to 90.0 in October from 87.2 in September; employee compensation costs rose 0.6 percent in the third quarter of 2015; and personal incomes in the United States rose just 0.1 percent from August to September.