Economic Data Report

The Commerce Department said starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 604,000 from a downwardly revised 613,000 rate in June.

In July, housing starts slipped 1.5%, according to data released Tuesday that reveal the negative impact on demand for new houses that comes from cheaper foreclosed homes, underwater mortgages, tight lending standards and high une

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index edged up to 59.5 in July, from a revised 57.6 in June that marked a seven-month low in the measure. Economists anticipated the July figure to fall to 56.

The job market has weakened earlier in the year.

As short-term outlook on jobs and income eases to some extent, U.S. consumers' confidence rose somewhat in July, according to a monthly survey released on Tuesday, but confidence levels still continue to be weak.

The latest figures include 1,750 workers in Minnesota who filed for temporary benefits during a brief government shutdown that has now ended.

Economists had expected new requests for jobless benefits to fall 403,000.

The Labor Department reported that new applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose last week. Initial claims for state benefits climbed by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 418,000 in the week ended July 15.

There was a large increase in the starts of multifamily units and a smaller gain in starts of single-family homes, according to the report.

Economists had been looking for a 3.6% increase to 580,000. May's starts were revised lower to a 549,000 rate from 560,000 previously estimates.

The Commerce Department reported that U.S. home builders sharply increased construction in June. Housing starts rose 14.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000, which is the highest level since January.

Economists had expected new requests for jobless benefits to total 420,000 during the week ended July 9. Claims in the prior week were revised up to 427,000 from an original reading of 418,000.

The average of new claims over the past four weeks dropped 3,750 to 423,250.

The Labor Department reported that new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 405,000, which brings claims to the lowest level in three months.

That was slightly higher than the 425,000 that economists had expected. The 4-week moving average increased 500 to 426,750.

In the year-ago week, there were a seasonally adjusted 472,000 initial jobless claims.

The insured unemployed, those receiving state unemployment checks, fell 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.7 million for the week ended June 18th.

Initial jobless claims for the week ended June 25 were 428,000 seasonally adjusted, down from the previous week's unrevised figure of 429,000, the Department of Labor reported today.

More importantly, May's pending sales were up 13.4% from May of 2010, the first time in 13 months that contract activity was up from the year earlier month.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, "Absorption of inventory is the key to price improvement, and this solid gain in contract signings implies that home values in many localities are or will soon be stabilizing as inventories g

Pending home sales increased 8.2% in May, after a terrible April in which the metric declined 11.3%, the National Association of Realtors said today.

That was higher than the 310,000 than economists had expected, and was also 13.5% higher than new home sales in May 2010.

April's sales numbers were revised slightly higher, to an annualized rate of 326,000 from the initially reported 324,000.

The supply of new homes on the market fell 3.5% to 166,000, which represents 6.2 months of supply at the current rate of sales.

The median price for a new home rose 2.6% from April to $222,600, down 3.4% fr

Sales of new homes fell 2.1% in May to a seasonally adjusted, estimated annual rate of 319,000 the Department of Commerce reported today.

The release by the 28 member nations of the IEA is "in response to the ongoing disruption of oil supplies from Libya."

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said, "We are taking this action in response to the ongoing loss of crude oil due to supply disruptions in Libya and other countries and their impact on the global economic recovery.

The U .S. Department of Energy will release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic National Reserve, it announced today, as part of a supply increase announced by the International Energy Agency.

It's the first monthly price gain reported by the FHFA since May 2010.

The previously reported decrease of 0.3% in March was revised to a 0.4% decrease.

For the 12 months ending in April, prices are down 5.7%.

Prices for homes in the U.S. rose 0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from March to April according to a report today from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.