EconomicCrisis.US

Sales at U.S. wholesalers climbed in December for a ninth consecutive month, leading to an unexpected drop in stockpiles that may keep spurring orders.

Purchases increased 0.8 percent after a 3.6 percent gain in November, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. Inventories fell 0.8 percent following a revised 1.6 percent increase that was the largest in more than five years.

A record inventory drawdown last year has opened the door for factories to pick up production, leading a recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s. Another report showed job openings climbed in December for the first time in three months, signaling employers are gaining confidence the expansion will be sustained in coming months.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Panic of 2008 led to a sharp contraction in the U.S. economy last winter. But by midyear 2009, the U.S. economy got back on the growth path. Real GDP growth spiked 5.7% in the final quarter of 2009, the fastest pace since 2003.

Despite this spike in growth and a drop in the unemployment rate, pessimism is still prevalent. Many economists argue that fourth-quarter growth was a function of inventory building, not real growth. This past weekend former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said the recovery in 2010 will be “trudging.”
Read the rest of this entry »

The unemployment rate in the U.S. unexpectedly dropped to 9.7 percent in January, indicating the labor market may be poised to climb out of its deepest slump since World War II.

More than half a million Americans found work, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington, helping push the jobless rate to the lowest since August. A separate survey of employers showed payrolls declined by 20,000 as construction companies and state and local governments cut back.

Manufacturers hired more workers for the first time in three years, expanded hours and boosted pay, which may lift consumer spending and sustain growth. Revisions to previous data increased the number of jobs lost in the recession to 8.4 million, adding impetus to the Obama administration’s push for fresh government measures to boost employment.
Read the rest of this entry »

The United States economy grew at its fastest pace in over six years at the end of 2009, but a sluggish job market is still souring economists on the sustainability of the recovery.

Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, well above analysts’ expectations. It had grown at an annualized rate of 2.2 percent in the previous quarter. Analysts had forecast annualized growth of 4.8 percent in the quarter, and the better-than-expected result sent stocks higher when trading opened on Wall Street.
Read the rest of this entry »