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Economic News in Review Greenville SC - May 05, 2015

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Mortgage and Lending with Movement Mortgage NMLS #322952

Economic News in Review Greenville SC

Here is last week’s Economic News in Review Greenville SC.

 

Incomes and spending saw growth, but it was behind expectations, while layoffs tumbled to their lowest point in 15 years, and construction spending contracted. 

 

Incomes and Spending 

 

Incomes and spending saw growth, but it was less than expected. Personal incomes skirted up a scant $6.2 billion (less than 0.1 percent) in March, with disposable personal income (DPI; income after taxes) increasing $1.6 billion (again, less than 0.1 percent), according to last week’s report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

 

Meanwhile, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which describes household spending on goods and services, grew by $53.4 billion, or 0.4 percent. In contrast, economists had expected a 0.5 percent increase in spending and a 0.2 percent increase in incomes. 

 

Personal savings — DPI less PCE plus interest payments and transfer payments — declined to $702.6 billion in March, from $758.6 billion in February. The personal savings rate, which calculates personal saving as a percentage of DPI, rang in at 5.3 percent in March, down from February’s 5.7 percent rate. 

 

Initial Jobless Claims 

 

First time claims for unemployment insurance filed by the newly unemployed during the week ending April 25 plummeted to 262,000, a decline of 34,000 claims from the prior week’s revised level of 296,000, the Employment and Training Administration reported last week. This was he lowest point for layoffs since April 15, 2000’s total of 259,000 claims. 

 

Meanwhile, the four-week moving average, considered a more stable read on layoffs, ticked down to 283,750 claims, a decline of 1,250 claims from the preceding week’s revised average of 285,000 claims. 

 

“Initial jobless claims continue to signal tightening in the labor market,” RDQ Economics co-founders John Ryding and Conrad DeQuadros wrote in a note to clients. “[The data] suggest that the softening in job growth in March may well have been a temporary quirk.” 

 

Construction Spending 

 

Construction spending dipped 06 percent in March, falling to an annual rate of $966.6 billion, the Census Bureau reported last week. That said, March’s spending was still 2 percent higher than March 2014’s pace of $947.3 billion. 

 

Spending on private construction, which accounts for roughly 70 percent of all construction spending, dropped 0.3 percent to an annual rate of $704.7 billion, with residential construction dropping 1.6 percent to an annual rate of $349 billion. Spending on single-family homes dropped by 1.8 percent, and construction spending on multi-family units fell 2.1 percent. 

 

Economists projected a ramp-up in residential construction spending during the April-to-June timeframe as the weather warms and home-selling season gets underway in earnest.

 

Economic News in Review Greenville SC

 

Have a Big day,

Randy

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Movement Mortgage, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender. NMLS # 39179 | 877-314- 1499. Movement Mortgage, LLC is licensed by the "South Carolina Board of Financial Institutions" Lic # MLS-39179. Interest rates and products are subject to change without notice and may or may not be available at the time of loan commitment or lock-in.  Borrowers must qualify  at  closing  for  all  benefits. “Movement Mortgage” is a registered trademark of the Movement Mortgage, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company.

Posted by

Randy Shamburger

Senior Mortgage Lender 

NMLS# 322952        

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