Last Week in the News (March 16, 2009)

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications for the week ending March 6 increased 11.3% to 723.4 from the previous week. Purchase volume rose 7.1% to 253.3, while refinancing applications jumped 13.3% to 3,470.7.

On Tuesday, March 10, the Commerce Department reported that sales at the wholesale level fell 2.9% to $326.1 billion in January, the lowest level in more than three years. The Commerce Department also reported that total business inventory decreased 0.7% in January. This follows a revised 1.5% decrease in December 2008.

According to the ICSC-Goldman Sachs index, store sales rose 0.2% in the first week of March compared to the previous week. Compared to a year ago, retail sales were down 0.9%.

The Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 654,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised figure of 645,000. In the first week of March, the number of people continuing to claim jobless benefits increased by 193,000 to 5.317 million.

The Commerce Department reported that retail sales dropped 0.1% in February following a revised 1.8% jump in January. Economists had anticipated a 0.4% drop in February. The revised estimate for January sales was almost double the initial estimate of 1%. The upward revision, combined with the better than expected February report, left some analysts feeling the economy is starting to stabilize. Excluding automobiles, retail sales posted an unexpected 0.7% gain in February.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on the housing market index on March 16, housing starts on March 17 and the index of leading economic indicators on March 19.