We saw a fall in factory orders last week. Automotive and housing industries continued their struggles.

• Q3 nonfarm business productivity was revised upwards (from 0.0% to 0.2%, annualized).
• Q3 unit labor costs growth was revised down (3.8% to 2.4%).
• October’s factory orders fell 4.7% — the sharpest drop in over 6 years.
• November’s ISM Non-Manufacturing index rose 1.8 points to 58.9 (over 50 indicates expansion).
• In November the economy added 132,000 net new j obs. However, the jobs in construction and manufacturing contracted.
• In November, the unemployment rate moved from 4.4% to 4.5%.

5 minutes: listen live by clicking the play button below.

Reference: Vanguard.

Activity picked up a bit last week after the prior holiday week.

• The Q3 GDP growth showed stronger-than-expected growth. The “preliminary” reading came out and indicated a 2.2% annualized Q3 growth rate.
• The Fed’s Beige Book indicated moderate economic growth since the last report in mid-October. All districts were much more positive than analysts expected. Softness remains largely confined to the housing and automotive industries.
• New single-family home sales for October fell 3.2%. Sales are off 25.4% compared with the October 2005 level.
• October’s existing homes sales crept up 0.5% (It was the first month-over-month gain since February.) The median sales price is $221,000
• October new construction spending fell 1%.
• The ISM manufacturing index fell to 49.5 in November. Numbers under 50 indicated contraction in the manufacturing sectors. This is the first time it fell below 50 since April 2003.

Listen live by clicking the play button below:

(7 minutes)

Reference: Vanguard