June 2008 - MND NewsWire

The ISM-Chicago business barometer remained below 50 for the fifth consecutive month in June, yet improved more than expected, coming in at 49.6, against expectations that it would fall to 48.0 from 49.1 in May.

"The threat of an economic recession spreading from the housing and credit sectors has yet to materialize, but economic growth remains negligible at best," said spokesman Jack Bishop in the report's summary. "Perhaps the mantra of fear of a recession has..."

Texas business activity declined further in June according to the Dallas Fed's manufacturing report on Monday, whose business activity index fell to -24.1 from May's -10.3.

"Several indicators for current conditions declined from May levels and turned negative," read the report. "Despite June's slowdown, more than a third of manufacturers responding to the survey expect increases in production and volume of new orders six months from now."

...He cites as examples appraisers, "fee hungry" mortgage brokers, and real estate agents who participated in putting home buyers into subprime mortgages they could not afford.

There may also be, as Lenckus puts it, an unknown number of "widget manufacturers" which bought various mortgage- backed financial instruments as investments that must now be devalued. This will impact the company's bottom line and provide an impetus for shareholder suits.

Even companies that did not invest in subprime instruments may be vulnerable...

U.S. core PCE, personal income and spending, and final data from the Michigan consumer sentiment survey will finish off the U.S. economic data week as Canadians receive industrial product and raw material prices along with average payroll earnings. Overseas, markets will be looking at the preliminary figures for German CPI and comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet.

A final look at U.S. first quarter GDP and initial jobless claims will be the key releases of the morning followed by the releasing of U.S. existing home sales. Europeans will be paying attention to comments from J�rgen Stark of the European Central Bank and energy traders will focus on the release of weekly U.S. natural gas inventories.

Economists say the higher-than-expected initial jobless claims reading for the week ending June 21 and four-year high reached in continuing claims illustrates the continued deterioration of the U.S. labour market.

"Three straight weeks of claims in the mid-380s is not good news; this is recession territory," said Ian Shepherdson, Chief U.S. Economist at HFE. He noted that claims will move higher over the next few weeks as the...

Condominium sales were the main driver of the 2.0% rise in existing home sales in May, which came in higher than the 1.2% gain expected by economists.

Condo sales rose 5.5% in May, more than reversing the 5.2% monthly drop in April, while single family home sales rose 1.6% in the month to 4.99 million units against the 4.95 million sales expected.

"Even with such a massive boost from condos, it did not even make a dent in the month's supply of condos which remains at 14.2 months," noted Charmaine Buskas, senior economics strategist from TD Securities.

The New York Fed created two new entities on Thursday in an effort to improve the bank's risk management and communications among regional and community banks.

The Communications Group "was created in recognition of the increasing roles and responsibilities of the communications and regional and community affairs area in the Bank...