Economic News in Review Greenville SC
Here is last week’s Economic News in Review Greenville SC.
Consumer credit beat analysts' forecasts, while initial jobless claims dropped to a seven-year low, according to last week's economic highlights.
Consumer Credit
Consumer credit grew by 6.4 percent in February to hit $3.12 trillion, a gain of $16.5 billion over the previous month, the Federal Reserve reported last week. This outpaced analysts' expectations of a gain of $14 billion for the month.
“Consumer credit is keeping track with the slow but positive growth we've seen in consumer spending throughout the cycle and in household spending in the first quarter,” Action Economics LLC chief economist Mike Englund told the Bloomberg news services.
Non-revolving debt, such as student loans and car loans, was the key driver for February's gains, growing 10.1 percent over January to hit $2.27 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported. Meanwhile, revolving debt, such as credit card spending, actually shrank by 3.4 percent, dropping to $854.2 billion.
Initial Jobless Claims
There was good news in recent employment activity, with first-time claims for jobless benefits hitting a seven-year low, according to figures released by the Employment and Training Administration reported last week. Claims filed by the newly unemployed for unemployment insurance dropped by 32,000 claims during the week ending April 5 to 300,000. The last time initial claims were that low was May 12, 2007 when they dropped to 297,000.
The four-week moving average, considered a more reliable gauge of near-term employment activity, backed up last week's score, falling 4,750 claims to 316,250. A key driver for the improvement was the warmer weather, which was helping to heat up economic activity as well, according to various employment watchers, such as said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.
“The return of warmer temperatures has brought with it better data,” Baird told the Reuters news services. “There are a number of signs that progress in the jobs market could be accelerating, a positive sign for the broad economy, as well.”
Producer Price Index
The Producer Price Index for final demand notched up 0.5 percent in March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week. March's gain followed a drop of 0.1 percent in February and a rise of 0.2 percent in January. The Bureau attributed March's 0.5-percent increase to its index for final demand services, which rose 0.7 percent. Prices for final demand goods in March were unchanged.
The PPI for final demand is a recently implemented index that the Bureau uses to measure price change for goods, services, and construction products sold for personal consumption, for capital investment, for export, and to government.
This week we can expect:
- Monday — March retails sales and February business inventories from the Census Bureau.
- Tuesday — March consumer price index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Wednesday — March building permits and housing starts from the Census Bureau; March industrial production and capacity utilization from the Federal Reserve.
- Thursday — Initial jobless claims for last week from the Employment and Training Administration.
Economic News in Review Greenville SC
Have a Big day,
Randy
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