Pending home sales fall 7.6% in January as demand shrinks. Record snowstorms in January and February had many Americans shoveling sidewalks and driveways instead of combing through listings for open houses. Partly as result, an index that tracks sales agreements fell 7.6 percent from December to a seasonally adjusted January reading of 90.4, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
Factory orders up 1.7%. The Commerce Department said Thursday that factory orders rose 1.7 percent in January, slightly below the 1.8 percent gain economists had expected. It was the best showing since a 1.8 percent advance in September. The gain was propelled by a 118.6 percent surge in orders for commercial airplanes. Excluding transportation, orders were up a much more modest 0.1 percent.
Retailers weather storms to best sales since 2007. US retailers posted their best monthly sales performance in February since just before the recession started in 2007, as leaner inventories resulted in more sales at full price.
Jobless claims fall in sign that employment May thaw. The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 469,000. That nearly matches Wall Street analysts' estimates of 470,000. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out volatility, fell by 3,500 to 470,750. Despite the drop, the average has risen by about 20,000 since the beginning of the year.
Productivity way up. The Labor Department reported Thursday that productivity jumped at an annual rate of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter, even better than an initial estimate of a 6.2 percent growth rate. Unit labor costs fell at a rate of 5.9 percent, a bigger drop than the 4.4 percent decline initially estimated.
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