U.S. Census Bureau Economic Briefing Room http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/briefroom/BriefRm Key National Economic Indicators Published by the U.S. Census Bureau en Wed Jun 24 14:00:17 2009 GMT New Home Sales http://www.census.gov/newhomesales Sales of new one-family houses in May 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 342,000. This is 0.6% below the revised April 2009 estimate of 344,000.

May 2009: -0.6 % change
April 2009: +2.7 % change ]]> Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured durable goods in May increased $2.8 billion or 1.8 percent to $163.9 billion.

May 2009: 1.8 % change
April 2009: 1.8 % change ]]> Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade http://www.census.gov/econ/qfr/ After-tax profits for retail corporations with assets greater than $50 million averaged 1.7 cents per dollar of sales for the first quarter 2009 (the 3 months ending Apr. 30, 2009), up 2.0 (+/- 0.1) cents from the after-tax losses average of 0.3 cents for the fourth quarter 2008 (the 3 months ending Jan. 31, 2009).

1st Qtr. 2009: +2.0 cents
4th Qtr. 2008: -1.9 cents ]]> Housing Starts/Building Permits http://www.census.gov/starts Privately-owned housing starts in May 2009 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000. This is 17.2 percent above the revised April 2009 estimate of 454,000.

May 2009: +17.2 % change
April 2009: -12.9 % change ]]> Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining and Trade http://www.census.gov/econ/qfr/ Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits averaged 3.2 cents per dollar of sales for the first quarter of 2009, up 8.2 (+/- 0.1) cents from the after-tax losses average of 4.9 cents for the fourth quarter of 2008.

1st Qtr 2009: +8.2 cents
4th Qtr 2008: -12.1 cents ]]> Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales http://www.census.gov/bussales U.S. total business sales for April were $966.8 billion, down 0.3% from last month. Month-end inventories were $1,384.7 billion, down 1.1% from last month.

April 2009: -0.3 % Change in sales
March 2009: -1.6 % Change in sales ]]> Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services http://www.census.gov/retail U.S. retail and food service sales for May reached $340.0 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent from the previous month.

May 2009: +0.5 % change
April 2009: -0.2 % change ]]> Quarterly Services Survey http://www.census.gov/qss U.S. Information sector revenue for the first quarter of 2009, adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes, was $275.3 billion, a decrease of 0.9 percent (+/- 0.5) from the fourth quarter of 2008.

1st Qtr 2009: 0.9 % change
4th Qtr 2008: -1.6 % change ]]> U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services http://www.census.gov/trade The Nation's international deficit in goods and services increased to $29.2 billion in April from $28.5 billion (revised) in March, as exports decreased more than imports.

April 2009: -29.2 $ billion
March 2009: -28.5 $ billion ]]> Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories http://www.census.gov/wholesale/index.html April 2009 sales of merchant wholesalers were $309.4 billion, down 0.4 percent from last month. End-of-month inventories were $405.4 billion, down 1.4 percent from last month.

April 2009: -1.4 % change in Inv
March 2009: -1.8 % change in Inv ]]> Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured goods in April increased $2.5 billion or 0.7 percent to $344.4 billion.

April 2009: 0.7 % change
March 2009: -1.9 % change ]]> Construction Spending http://www.census.gov/c30 Total construction activity for April 2009 ($968.7 billion) was 0.8 percent above the revised March 2009 ($961.3 billion). Please see our web site for further details: http://www.census.gov/constructionspending

April 2009: 0.8 % change
March 2009: 0.4 % change ]]> Housing Vacancies and Homeownership http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/hvs.html

Homeownership Rate (HR)
The homeownership rate (67.3 percent) for the current quarter was lower than the rate in first quarter 2008 (67.8 percent), but not statistically different from the rate in fourth quarter 2008 (67.5 percent).

Rental Vacancy Rate (RVR)
The rental vacancy rate in first quarter 2009 (10.1 percent) was not statistically different from the first quarter 2008 rate (10.1 percent).

Homeowner Vacancy Rate (HVR)
The homeowner vacancy rate in first quarter 2009 (2.7 percent) was lower than the first quarter 2008 rate (2.9 percent).

1st Qtr 2009
(HR): 67.3 percent
1st Qtr 2008
(HR): 67.8 percent ]]>