US Economic News

Pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly increased for the third straight month in February, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday. NAR said its pending home sales index climbed by 0.8 percent to 83.2 in February after spiking by 8.1 percent to 82.5 in January. Economists had expected pending home sales to slump by 3.0 percent.

Reflecting an uptick in consumer expectations, the Conference Board released a report on Tuesday unexpectedly showing a slight improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of March. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index inched up to 104.2 in March from an upwardly revised 103.4 in February.

Reflecting a continued slump in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing an unexpected decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of February. The Commerce Department said durable goods orders slid by 1.0 percent in February after plummeting by a revised 5.0 percent in January.

Reflecting a continued slump in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing an unexpected decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of February.

New home sales in the U.S. increased from a significantly downwardly revised level in the month of February, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday. The report said new home sales climbed by 1.1 percent to an annual rate of 640,000 in February after jumping by 1.8 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 633,000 in January.

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday unexpectedly showed a slight decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 18th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 191,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 192,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 201,000.

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday unexpectedly showed a slight decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 18th.

Despite recent turmoil in the banking industry, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced that is has decided to continue raising interest rates. The Fed said it has decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by another 25 basis points to 4.75 to 5.0 percent.

A report released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday showed existing home sales in the U.S. rebounded by much more than expected in the month of February. NAR said existing home sales spiked by 14.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.58 million in February after falling by 0.7 percent to a rate of 4.00 million in January.

World's major central banks announced a joint effort to prevent the banking crisis from spreading after the Swiss bank UBS decided to acquire the troubled rival Credit Suisse in a deal brokered by the Swiss authorities. Central banks decided to increase the frequency of US dollar operations with 7-day maturity from weekly to daily from March 20.