Gary Siegel

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.

December durable goods orders plunged 3.4%, while excluding transportation, orders dropped 0.8%, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

The composite index of Leading Economic Indicators was up 0.5% in December following a revised 0.4% rise in November, first reported as a 0.6% climb, the Conference Board reported Friday.

Existing home sales grew 2.4% to a seasonally adjusted 5.04 million-unit rate in November from a revised 4.92 million pace the previous month, the National Association of Realtors announced Friday.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for December plunged to negative 0.05 from a revised 0.92 reading in November, while the three-month moving average (CFNAI-MA3) slipped to 0.39 from a revised 0.54 in November, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported Friday.

Manufacturing activity in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's region "expanded at a slower pace, but producers' expectations for future activity remained at solid levels" in January, according to the bank's monthly manufacturing survey, released Thursday.