The New Economy

Construction is under way on the infrastructure of a housing development in Zelienople, Pa., last month. US housing starts rose 6.8 percent to an annual rate of 914,000 in May, but analysts had expected 950,000 starts. (Keith Srakocic/AP/File)

US home construction rises 6.8 percent in May

By Schuyler Velasco, Staff writer / 06.18.13

With the housing market ramping back up and buyer demand for homes increasing in certain parts of the United States, a key piece in the recovery’s puzzle might be moving into place: Builders seem poised to build again, but not quite at the pace many in the industry had hoped.

US housing starts rose 6.8 percent to an annual rate of 914,000 in May, and 28.6 percent from a year ago. It was a decent gain, but less than the 950,000 starts analysts expected. Most of the gains were in multifamily starts, which surged 21.6 percent to a rate of 315,000 for the year. (It’s a volatile measure: In April, multifamily starts plunged 32.2 percent.) Single-family starts, meanwhile, edged up just 0.3 percent, according to the Commerce Department.

All told, it’s not a terrible report: Construction is certainly picking up, and continuing low mortgage rates, price acceleration, and a need for increased inventory in several markets make it probable that the trend will continue. But the data is a bit deflating in light of the news, via a separate survey, that home builders are more optimistic about the state of the housing market than they’ve been in nearly seven years. ( Continue… )

A woman looks at an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday. World markets have swung wildly this week as traders speculate when central banks will throttle back their easy-money policies. The Fed, which meets next week, will be evaluating last month's sharp rise in retail sales, tame inflation, and the slowdown in manufacturing. (Koji Sasahara/AP)

Consumers riding high as retail sales surprise: this week in the economy

By Schuyler Velasco, Staff writer / 06.15.13

Retail sales go big:  Retail sales rose 0.6 percent in May and 4.3 percent since last year, beating analysts’ predictions and stoking optimism for more accelerated economic growth going forward. Auto sales ruled the report, jumping 1.2 percent for the month. Excluding auto sales, retail sales rose only 0.3 percent. Building materials also gained 0.9 percent in a strong showing.

The data prompted Barclays Research to revise upward – significantly – its predictions for second-quarter gross domestic product: from a 1.1 percent annual rate to 1.8 percent. 

Wholesale prices rise sharply: For the first time in three months, the index moved up, rising 0.5 percent from April to May, but it was due almost entirely to higher food and gasoline costs. Core prices, which exclude those two volatile categories rose only 0.1 percent. That suggests that underlying inflation is still tame, a key indicator the Federal Reserve is watching as it prepares to meet next week and review the economy and its own interest-rate policies.     

Jobless claims fall: The number of people applying for initial unemployment benefits fell for the second week in a row last week, from 346,000 to 334,000 claims (a decline of 12,000), according to the Labor Department. It was the smallest number of applications since early May, and a hopeful sign that the job market is making further improvement. Job market performance will be a key factor in consumer spending and the growth of the US economy going forward, Josh Shapiro, chief US economist for MFR, Inc. in New York, wrote in an e-mailed analysis. “On a fundamental basis, labor market conditions will be the key factor for the consumer, and evidence concerning job growth therefore will remain the paramount economic variable for some time.” ( Continue… )

An undated photo shows a shadowy shape that some people say is a photo of the Loch Ness monster in Scotland. Local business are arguing over how to best sell the myth to tourists. ( (AP Photo, File))

Loch Ness monster: How much spin is too much spin?

By David Clark Scott, Staff writer / 06.15.13

If you're selling a serpent, or rather a mythical serpent, how much spin is too much?

That seems to be gist of the latest Loch Ness monster spat.

Tourism is big business in the Scottish Highlands. And nothing draws folks to Scotland's second-longest lake like a good Loch Ness monster sighting.

But two local businessmen have set off a tempest in a serpent's teapot over how honest to be with tourists about whether there is – or isn't – a sea monster in Loch Ness.

George Edwards, who runs Loch Ness Cruises, complained that some of the other members of the Drumnadrochit, Scotland, Chamber of Commerce are leaving tourists - especially those visiting the Loch Ness Centre - with the impression that the Loch Ness monster is just a "myth."

That, in his opinion, is bad for business.

"Just about every time that [Centre researcher Adrian] Shine appears in the media he talks about big fish and big waves," Mr Edwards said in a letter to the chamber of commerce. "I believe they are doing more harm than good in promoting Loch Ness tourism with their negative theories... How many people come here to see the Loch Ness Big Fish or the Loch Ness Big Wave?"

The Loch Ness Centre seems to be trying to walk the line between the sea monster "sightings" and sharing information on the scientific research that has been done at the Loch. "On one hand, the loch's famous "Jurassic Park" reputation, 1000 reliable eye-witnesses and some classic photography. On the other hand, hoaxes and illusions, Scotland's journey and the legacy of the ice, life in the abyss and a possible underlying truth," says the Centre's website.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Tony Harmsworth, the former boss of the Loch Ness Centre, responded to Mr. Edward's accusations with a letter of his own posted on the chamber of commerce website (since removed), and he accused Edward's of "palming his customers off with fake photographs."

The Scotsman reports that "The row has led to resignations from the Chamber of Commerce, including Debbie MacGregor of the Loch Ness Centre, and Tony Harmsworth, its former chairman, who has quit as editor of the chamber’s website."

But this is not the first time locals - or others - have haggled over how to promote Loch Ness. A BBC article recently posed this question: "Is Nessie just a tourist conspiracy?"

The article is based on the work of Dr. Charles Paxton, a research fellow and statistical ecologist at St Andrew's University, who has so far sifted through 800 of the 1,000 recorded sightings. Paxton observes: a sizeable number of 'Nessie' sightings came from cafe and hotel proprietors.

Skeptics have long questioned the veracity of the Loch Ness monster. In 1982, The Christian Science Monitor's Robert C. Cowen reported on a three-part series published in New Scientist that attributed many of the sightings to otters and old logs floated by methane gas. "Gases formed by slow decay would accumulate in the log until they made it buoyant enough to shoot to the surface." By examining photos of purported sightings, researchers noted that some folks were apparently taking pictures of otters, not sea serpents.  "In Scotland, otters may grow to be six feet long with records of 7.5 to 8 feet. Large otters frolicking on the surface could look serpentlike. What is more, lines of otters could look like a long serpent when the lead otter rears up to look around."

The truth is out there. But are Loch Ness tourists willing to pay for it?

Jani McAllister browses through a sales rack Wednesday outside Festivity, a boutique in Virginia Highlands, in Atlanta. Americans stepped up spending at retail businesses in May at the best pace in three months, fueled by more car purchases. (Jaime Henry-White/AP/File)

Retail sales rise more than expected in May

By Schuyler Velasco, Staff writer / 06.13.13

Any month now, we keep hearing, consumers’ pocketbooks and outlooks will start to feel the pinch of the sweeping federal budget cuts, known as the sequester. It’s not a matter of “if,” economists say, it’s a matter of “when.”

“When,” was not last month. US consumers are still spending money, and they’re optimistic about the direction the economy is going. 

Retail sales rose 0.6 percent in May and 4.3 percent from a year ago, beating analysts’ expectations of 0.5 percent growth. It was retail sales’ biggest jump in three months and points to potential economic growth for the year going forward. In April, there was only a 0.1 percent growth in sales.

Barclay’s Research revised its growth forecast for second quarter gross domestic product up a substantial 0.7 percentage points to 1.8 percent on the news. ( Continue… )

Chris Bull builds a bicycle at Circle A Cycles, a Providence, R.I., manufacturer of custom bikes. Manufacturing workers in the area have been hit hard by Chinese imports in the past two decades, and the effects appear to be intensifying, according to a new study. (Alfredo Sosa/The Christian Science Monitor/File )

Twin storms for US workers: Chinese imports, technological change

By Laurent Belsie, Staff writer / 06.13.13

Foreign competition and technological change might seem like twin juggernauts, destroying American manufacturing jobs in much the same way. In fact, they're quite different.

Foreign competition from China can be like a tornado, devastating US manufacturing in concentrated fashion but in limited areas around the country, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The winds of technological change blow much more broadly and less destructively, displacing typically middle-income jobs but creating more low-paying and high-paying positions.

There's another major difference: As of 2007, at least, the foreign competition tornado was growing bigger and threatening more manufacturing jobs; the winds of technological change are lessening in the manufacturing sector and have moved on to nonmanufacturing industries.

“Outside of manufacturing ... the impact of automation accelerates during the three decades of our sample, suggesting that computerization of information processing activities in knowledge-intensive industries continues to intensify," conclude economists David Autor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David Dorn of Spain's graduate education institute CEMFI in Madrid, and Gordon Hanson of the University of California at San Diego, the authors of the NBER study. ( Continue… )

Anu Vatal of Chicago, speaks with Patrice Tosi of BluePay, seated, during a career fair in Rolling Meadows, Ill. The US economy added 175,000 jobs in May, a gain that shows employers are hiring at a still modest but steady pace despite government spending cuts and higher taxes, according to the Labor Department. (M. Spencer Green/AP/File)

Jobs report? Tepid, like everything else in the economy.

By Schuyler Velasco, Staff writer / 06.08.13

US adds jobs, but unemployment rate rises: The US economy added 175,000 jobs in May, but the unemployment rate ticked up slightly, to 7.6 percent. The number of jobs added was about what analysts expected, but employment needs to grow faster if the US expects to get its elevated unemployment rate back to more normal levels.

The jobs report, released Friday by the Department of Labor, answered several nagging questions about the economy. Will the Federal Reserve reduce the pace of its purchases of debt sooner than expected, pushing up interest rates? If job-creation doesn't pick up, the Fed's unlikely to reduce its program until next year, analysts say. Are federal budget cuts under the sequester hurting the labor market? They probably will, analysts say, but the national job numbers don't show much of an effect yet. Can the job market grow while the economy is in a soft patch? Yes, at a tepid pace.

A large segment of the jobs added in May were in the temporary sector, which tends to be a bellwether for the rest of the labor market. For more on the May jobs report, read Monitor reporter Ron Scherer's take. 

Manufacturing disappoints: The ISM-Manufacturing Index for May sank slightly, to its lowest level in four years. Many of the biggest activity declines were in the United States. Many economists expect that manufacturing growth will slow, but not disappear entirely. “Becalmed still beats sinking,” Michael Montgomery, US economist with IHS Global Insight wrote in an e-mailed analysis. "It looks like a long, cool summer in the manufacturing sector."

Despite the US decline, manufacturing’s global outlook remained positive, but still weak.  ( Continue… )

Craig Berry, unemployed for 10 months, signs up for temporary work at a Manpower temporary agency in Chicago in 2009. Hiring of temporary workers surged in the last four months of 2009 and it's picking up again in 2013, according to new jobs numbers from the Department of Labor. (John Gress/Reuters/File)

US jobs numbers: modest gains, a pickup in temp work

By Laurent Belsie, Staff writer / 06.07.13

The US economy may be 2.4 million jobs short of its prerecession peak, but there's one segment of the labor force that's riding high: temporary workers.

The ranks of on-call receptionists, customer service representatives, nurses, and others swelled to a new record in May, beating the pre-recession peak in 2006, the Department of Labor reported Friday. And the rate of growth in temp work is ticking up, after declining over the past three years. Temp jobs aren't necessarily well-paid, and their growth reflects an ongoing lack of confidence by businesses in the wake of the federal sequester and Europe's recession. Nevertheless, it represents a positive sign for future hiring, because temp jobs often turn into full-time work.

"Companies are busy. They want to hire, but they're still being cautious," says Scot Melland, president and chief executive of Dice Holdings, which runs specialized career websites in the technology, financial services, and health-care industries. "That's a pretty good indication of the tension that's out there," he adds in a telephone interview.

Overall, hiring in May was in line with expectations for a continuing modest recovery in jobs. The economy added 175,000 nonfarm jobs, the Department of Labor reported. The unemployment rate also ticked up from 7.5 percent in April to 7.6 percent in May, but analysts didn't view it as a negative since it reflected an increase in the number of people actively looking for work. ( Continue… )

Mike Kastner leaves the unfinished lower half of a building acquired by his son Daniel's company 1977 Mopeds, a company that sells moped parts online. A measure of US manufacturing fell in May to its lowest level since June 2009, the Institute for Supply Management reported Monday, June 3, 2013. (James Buck/Kalamazoo Gazette/AP/File)

Manufacturing growth cools, but it won't disappear

By Laurent Belsie, Staff writer / 06.03.13

The noise emanating from the world’s factories, once humming with growth, sounds more like a flat kazoo these days.

Key manufacturing nations are reporting growth so tepid that it’s almost nonexistent. Nevertheless, the evidence so far suggests growth is slowing, not disappearing.

Some of the biggest declines are centered in the United States. In May, economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted for the first time since November, according to a survey of manufacturers from the Institute for Supply Management in Tempe, Ariz. The ISM index for May declined to 49, its lowest level since June 2009 and far below analysts’ expectations.

“We've definitely seen a pullback in activity over the past two or three months,” says Chad Moutray, chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington. Technically, any reading below 50 signals a contraction. But he, like many economists, expect growth to slow, not disappear, in the months ahead. Mr. Moutray expects the sector’s growth to slow from 2.4 percent in the first quarter to 1.8 percent this quarter, before picking up again late in the year. ( Continue… )

Trader Jonathan Corpina, left, and specialist Michael Pistino work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 31, 2013, in New York. Stocks plunged in the final hour of trading, with the Dow losing nearly 209 points. (Richard Drew/AP)

Stocks plunge Friday, but end up positive for May

By Schuyler Velasco, Staff writer / 06.01.13

Stocks plunge in final hour of trading: The stock market was directionless for most of Friday until the last hour of trading, when it sank like a stone. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 100 points in the final 15 minutes alone. Some traders blamed end-of-the month rebalancing of portfolios; others pointed to automated trading programs for kicking in and exaggerating the loss. In the end the Dow was down nearly 209 points, or 1.4 percent, its biggest one-day decline since April. The Standard & Poors 500 index also fell 1.4 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1 percent.

Despite the late plunge, and the old adage about getting out of the stock market in May, stocks were still up for the month. That's the sixth month in a row for the venerable Dow.

Government bond yields rose, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury note edging up to 2.13 percent, its highest level in more than a year. Mortgage rates, which usually move in tandem with the 10-year note, also are up to their highest levels in a year. 

Personal income unchanged in April, but consumers are upbeat: Personal income among US households went unchanged in April. Consumer spending dipped slightly, falling 0.2 percent, according to data from the US Commerce Department. Both reads were slightly below analysts’ expectations, and some see it as a sign that the spending cuts stemming fro the “sequester” in Washington finally may be catching up with consumers.  We believe consumer spending is slowing in lagged response to the large decline in real disposable income in [the first quarter of 2013], which owed to the tax increases, as well as some income shifting into [the last quarter of 2012] to get ahead of those tax increases,” Barclays Research economist Dean Maki wrote in an e-mailed analysis.Analysts also take the slowdown as a hint that the Federal Reserve won’t slow its asset purchases, but warn that such a decision will likely hinge more on the labor market than anything else. “On a more fundamental basis, labor market conditions will be the key factor for the consumer, and evidence concerning job growth therefore will remain the paramount economic variable for some time,” Josh Shapiro, US economist for MFR, Inc. in New York, wrote in his analysis of the numbers. ( Continue… )