Gary Siegel

U.S. inflationary pressures were lower in January, as the U.S. future inflation gauge fell to 102.5 from a revised December 104.0 reading, first reported as 104.1, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

The time when it's difficult to justify zero lower bound interest rates is "rapidly approaching," Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said in a televised interview Friday, noting the public needs to realize the economy is not in "perpetual crisis."

The first interest rate hike "will soon be appropriate," Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President and Chief Executive Officer Loretta J. Mester said Wednesday, noting she'd even agree to liftoff in the first half of the year.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a slightly faster pace in January as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 56.7 in the month, compared to 56.5 in December, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Wednesday.

With inflation still below 2% and there for probably "a few years" further, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota Tuesday repeated his call for the Fed to keep rates near zero, with no increases this year.

New orders for manufactured goods dropped 3.4% in December, after falling a revised 1.7% in November, first reported as a 0.7% decline, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

New York City business activity contracted in January, as the current business conditions index dropped to 44.5, from 70.8 in December, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Tuesday, indicated.

The overall economy grew for the sixty-eighth straight time, while the manufacturing sector expanded for the twentieth consecutive month, the Institute for Supply Management reported Monday.

Construction spending increased 0.4% in December, the Commerce Department said Monday, and is 2.2% above the December 2013 level.

The University of Michigan's final January consumer sentiment index reading was 98.1, compared to the preliminary January 98.2, and the final December 93.6, according to market sources.

The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Business Barometer rose to 59.4 in January from 58.8 in December, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said Friday.

The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business declined to 51.6 in January from 57.6 in December, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Friday.

The Midwest Economy Index grew to 0.67 in December from a revised 0.43 in November, first reported as 0.52, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said Friday.

Pending home sales declined 3.7% to an index reading of 100.7 in December, after a revised 0.6% increase to 104.6 in November, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.

The Federal Open Market Committee held steady at its latest meeting, still preaching patience and calling "risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market" nearly balanced.

Texas service sector activity "expanded at a slower pace in January," according to business executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey, as the revenue index declined to 12.1 from 22.2.

Service sector activity "strengthened in January," according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond service-sector activity survey, released Tuesday.

Manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region "grew modestly" in January, according to the monthly business activity survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, as the manufacturing index slid to 6 in January from 7 in December.

The pace of new single-family home sales rose 11.6% to a 481,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, above the 450,000 rate that was expected and following a downward revision to the sales pace in November, data released by the Commerce Department Tuesday showed.

The consumer confidence index grew to 102.9 in January from a revised 93.1 last month, The Conference Board reported Tuesday.