Gary Siegel

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed "business activity was flat for New York manufacturers," the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Wednesday, as the general business conditions index slipped to negative 1.19 in April from positive 6.90 in March.

The European Central Bank announced its Governing Council held interest rates at its latest monetary policy meeting Wednesday.

Business inventories were up 0.3% to $1.790 trillion in February, while sales were unchanged at $1.313 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Market-based expectations can offer a great deal of data for policymakers, but they have limitations and can be difficult to interpret since prices are affected by factors other than those of interest to policymakers, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter published Monday.

Consumers' view of short-term inflation held in the past month, but home price, earnings and spending growth expectations "returned to levels that prevailed during the second half of 2014," according to the Survey of Consumer Expectations, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.

Wholesale inventories increased 0.3% in February, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Wholesale sales dropped 0.2%.

Despite seeing growth had moderated since its last meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee altered its statement so it could start the normalization process when appropriate beginning as early as June, according to the minutes of the March 17-18 meeting, released Wednesday.

Labor market conditions continued to improve as the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Labor Market Conditions Indicators (LMCI) narrowed to negative 0.262 in March from negative 0.330 in February, according to the Bank.

The first rate hike by the Federal Open Market Committee could come at its June meeting, Fed Governor Jerome H. Powell said Wednesday, noting there must be confidence inflation will rise toward the 2% target in the medium term.

Consumer credit increased by $15.5 billion in February to $3.343 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee should not raise interest rates until the last half of 2016, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota said Tuesday.

The Federal Reserve's Labor Market Conditions Index, a compilation of 19 labor market measures, fell to negative 0.3 in March from a revised positive 2.0 in February.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a slightly slower pace in March as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 56.5 in the month, compared to 56.9 in February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Monday.

Data will likely show a weak first-quarter economy, but, "these downside surprises" are mainly due to "temporary factors," Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said Monday.

New orders for manufactured goods increased 0.2% in February, after falling a revised 0.7% in January, first reported as a 0.2% decline, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

New York City business activity "shifted into neutral" in March, as the current business conditions index declined to 50.0, from 63.1 in February, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Thursday, indicated.

About 5,466,400 online job postings appeared on leading Internet job boards in March, an increase of 15,200 from February, the Conference Board reported Wednesday.

The overall economy grew for the seventieth straight time, while the manufacturing sector expanded for the twenty-seventh consecutive month, the Institute for Supply Management reported Wednesday.

Construction spending decreased 0.1% in February, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, and is 2.1% above the February 2014 level.

Texas service sector activity "continued to reflect expansion in March," according to business executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey, as the revenue index slid to 10.7 from 13.6.