U.S. retail sales posted a surprising gain in February despite falling car demand amid trouble at auto maker Toyota MotorCorp. and fierce blizzards that crippled the East Coast for days.
Retail sales rose last month by 0.3%, the Commerce Department said Friday. An average of economists surveyed had forecast a 0.3% decrease in February sales. The [...]

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is conducted quarterly to measure employers’ intentions to increase or decrease the number of employees in their workforce during the next quarter. It is the most extensive forward-looking survey of its kind, unparalleled in its size, scope, longevity and area of focus. The Survey has been running for more than [...]

I am a guy who thinks that such huge explosions in money supplies around the world and the explosions in government deficit-spending around the world will lead to catastrophic explosions in inflation in prices, probably around the world.
I am also a guy who thinks that inflation in prices is the Thing Most Feared (TMF) in [...]

On Friday the government reported that the unemployment rate in the U.S. held at 9.7% in February and employers cut fewer jobs than anticipated. The stabilization in the labor market continued even as two East Coast blizzards of 2-3 feet each forced closings of some businesses during the period.
Furthermore, the jobless rate, which has [...]

Virginia’s Landmark Solar Power Project to be Hosted on University Campus
Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg will soon be the site of Virginia’s first commercial-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) installation in the Commonwealth.
The new installation is part of a proposed revision to the campus master plan to allow for approximately 600 kilowatts of solar energy panels [...]

The Institute for Supply Management released its February 2010 Manufacturing Report On Business Monday. The report shows that manufacturing jobs grew for the third month in a row. Even more upbeat was the fact that the report indicates that job growth in the sector is now accelerating.
Furthermore, overall economic activity in the manufacturing [...]

The proverbial boogeyman, the phrase “end of the world as we know it”, is not particularly significant to me because it is, literally, always true, because any progress at all, anywhere, means that tomorrow will never be like today, and so “the end of the world as we know it” can be extended to mean [...]

Rebuilding of depleted inventories was behind an improvement in 4Q economic growth estimates above what was previously estimated. The estimate brought estimates up to 5.9% from earlier estimate of 5.7%. Last quarter’s growth was likely the strongest since 3Q 2003.
Inventory accumulation was estimated to have added 3.9% to economic growth last quarter. The accumulation of [...]

Improvement in the factory sector looked material last month. The overall level of durable goods orders jumped 3.0% and that followed an upwardly revised 1.9% December increase. Transportation spiked 15.6% in January after a 1.5% rise the month before. For the latest month, non-defense aircraft lifted-off to a monthly 126.0% increase; defense aircraft rose [...]

Seasonal factors play an important part in the monitoring housing prices, pushing up prices during the high traffic months of the spring and summer and pulling them down in the cold of the fall and winter.
The Case-Shiller data on home prices was released on Tuesday. When seasonally adjusted, the data points to an extended price [...]