Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index Falls for Eighth Month

The Case-Shiller home price indices, released today, reported a drop of .13 in the 10-city to 146.61 and a drop of .04 in the 20-city bringing it to 134.10. The 10-city is down 2.8% over March 2011 while the 20-city is down 2.6%. Most cities held steady or increased slightly. However, Atlanta (-.24), Chicago(-2.65), Boston(-.31), Detroit(-3.09), Minneapolis(-1.01), New York(-1.36), and Portland(-.59) declined. Detroit lost the most in March with it’s decline at 4.4% to a record-low 66.66.

For more information, see our Home Price Report.

–From the St. Louis Federal Reserve

US Trade Balance Report for March Released

The US trade balance report, released today, shows the imports and export values from a variety of countries. For the past few months our trade balance with China has been shifting, so this month’s numbers will shine much greater light on recent trends.

For more information, see our Trade Balance Report.

US Economy Added 172,000 New Job Openings in March

There were 172,000 additional job openings, an increase of 4.8% to a total of 3.7 million, posted in March according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Hires in March declined 2% to 4.3 million, while separations increased 29,000. Job openings increased in all sectors except information and government. Information and federal government openings held steady at 88,000 and 67,000, respectively. State and local government openings fell 20,000, or 5.9%, to 318,000.

For additional graphs, data, and context, see our Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report.

Unemployment Down to 3% in North Dakota

In the ongoing, impressive employment situation in North Dakota, this northern state’s employment rate fell another .1% to 3% in March. Comparatively, California’s employment rate increased .1% to 11%.

–from the St. Louis Federal Reserve and the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Capacity Utilization Decreased .3% in March 2012

Capacity utilization shrank .3% to 78.3%, a value well within historical norms. Utilization is up 3.1% from March 2011 and 8.9% from March 2010. Thus, even with a small, one-month decline the overall trend has been significantly positive over the last few years.

–From the St. Louis Federal Reserve

Housing Starts Fell 5.8% in March

Privately owned housing unit starts fell 40,000, or 5.8%, to 654,000. This is the second month in a row starts have fallen and this month’s loss is double last month’s. Although the short-term performance is down, starts are up 10.3% since March 2011.

–From the St. Louis Federal Reserve

Retail Sales Increased .8% in March

Retail and food service sales increased $3.2 million dollars or .8% to $411.1 billion. This continues the upward trajectory seen for the past few years. Sales are up 23% over the low point reached in April 2009 and up 6.5% from last March.

–From the St. Louis Federal Reserve

CPI Increased .665 in March 2012

The Consumer Price Index increased .665 points in March to 229.1. The index is up 2.7% over last year. This is another month of slowed growth: one-year CPI growth has slowed every month from its most recent high of 3.9% reached in September 2011.

For more information see our Consumer Price Index Report.

–from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the St. Louis Federal Reserve

Unemployment Rate Drops to 8.2%

The unemployment rate fell .1% to 8.2% in March. The unemployment rate has been falling every month since June 2011. Unemployment is .7% lower than last March. Mitigating the happy news of another drop, the civilian employment-population ratio and the civilian labor force participation rate dropped .1% to 58.5% and 63.8%, respectively.

Total nonfarm payroll increased 120,000 to 132.8 million. Median duration of unemployment fell .4 weeks to 19.9 due largely to a 2% drop in people unemployed for more than 6 months. Since those people have not appeared in the participation rate, it is likely that these people lost long term benefits and are no longer in the labor market.

For more information see our Employment Report.

–from the BLS and the St. Louis Federal Reserve

Private Employment Increased 209,000 in March

According to ADP, total nonfarm private employment increased 209,000, or .2%, to 110,272. The payroll has been increasing steadily since 2010, but as the graph clearly shows, this month is still 4.1% below the peak reached in January 2008.

–from ADP and the St. Louis Federal Reserve