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 Thu Dec 4 15:02:32 2008 GMT Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured goods in October decreased $21.9 billion or 5.1 percent to $407.4 billion.

October 2008: -5.1 % change
September 2008: -3.1 % change ]]> Construction Spending http://www.census.gov/c30 Total construction activity for October 2008 ($1,072.6 billion) was 1.2 percent below the revised September 2008 ($1,085.7 billion). Please see our web site for further details: http://www.census.gov/constructionspending

October 2008: -1.2 % change
September 2008: 0.0 % change ]]> New Home Sales http://www.census.gov/newhomesales Sales of new one-family houses in October 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000. This is 5.3% below the revised September 2008 estimate of 457,000.

October 2008: -5.3 % change
September 2008: +0.7 % change ]]> Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders http://www.census.gov/m3 New orders for manufactured durable goods in October decreased $12.7 billion or 6.2 percent to $193.0 billion.

October 2008: -6.2 % change
September 2008: -0.2 % change ]]> Housing Starts/Building Permits http://www.census.gov/starts Privately-owned housing starts in October 2008 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 791,000. This is 4.5 percent below the revised September 2008 estimate of 828,000.

October 2008: -4.5 % change
September 2008: -3.0 % change ]]> Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales http://www.census.gov/bussales U.S. total business sales for September were $1,164.3 billion, down 2.0% from last month. Month-end inventories were $1,507.1 billion, down 0.2% from last month.

September 2008: -2.0 % Change in sales
August 2008: -2.2 % Change in sales ]]> Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services http://www.census.gov/retail U.S. retail and food service sales for October reached $363.7 billion, a decrease of 2.8 percent from the previous month.

October 2008: -2.8 % change
September 2008: -1.3 % change ]]> U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services http://www.census.gov/trade The Nation's international deficit in goods and services decreased to $56.5 billion in September from $59.1 billion (revised) in August, as imports decreased more than exports.

September 2008: -56.5 $ billion
August 2008: -59.1 $ billion ]]> Monthly Wholesale Trade: Sales and Inventories http://www.census.gov/wholesale/index.html September 2008 sales of merchant wholesalers were $396.2 billion, down 1.5 percent from last month. End-of-month inventories were $444.2 billion, down 0.1 percent from last month.

September 2008: -0.1 % change in Inv
August 2008: 0.6 % change in Inv ]]> Housing Vacancies and Homeownership http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/hvs.html

Homeownership Rate (HR)
The homeownership rate in the third quarter 2008 (67.9 percent) was not statistically differerent than the third quarter 2007 rate (68.2 percent). The homeownership rate in Northeast was lower than the corresponding rate a year ago, while rates in the other regions did not change significantly.

Rental Vacancy Rate (RVR)
The rental vacancy rate in third quarter 2008 (9.9 percent) was not statistically different from the third quarter 2007 rate (9.9 percent).

Homeowner Vacancy Rate (HVR)
The homeowner vacancy rate in third quarter 2008 (2.8 percent) was not statistically different from the third quarter 2007 rate (2.7 percent).

3rd Qtr 2008
(HR): 67.9 percent
3rd Qtr 2007
(HR): 68.2 percent ]]> Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade http://www.census.gov/csd/qfr/ After-tax profits for retail corporations with assets greater than $50 million averaged 2.3 cents per dollar of sales for the second quarter 2008, up 0.1 (+/- 0.1) cents from the average of 2.2 cents for the first quarter 2008.

2nd Qtr. 2008: +0.1 cents
1st Qtr. 2008: -1.0 cents ]]> Quarterly Services Survey http://www.census.gov/qss U.S. Information sector revenue for the second quarter of 2008, not adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday or trading-day differences, or price changes, was $284.9 billion, an increase of 2.5 percent (+/- 0.5) from the first quarter of 2008.

2nd Qtr 2008: 2.5 % change
1st Qtr 2008: -4.6 % change ]]> Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining and Trade http://www.census.gov/csd/qfr/ Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits averaged 6.1 cents per dollar of sales for the second quarter of 2008, down 1.1 (+/- 0.1) cents from the average of 7.2 cents for the first quarter of 2008.

2nd Qtr 2008: -1.1 cents
1st Qtr 2008: -0.3 cents ]]>