Gary Siegel

Business inventories rose 0.4% to $1.743 trillion in June, while sales increased 0.3% to $1.347 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

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

Newly issued Treasury securities held in stripped form decreased about $122.691 billion in July to a total of $213.974 billion, the Bureau of the Public Debt reported Wednesday.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a faster pace in July as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 58.7 in the month, compared to 56.0 in June, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday.

New orders for manufactured goods gained 1.1% in June, after dropping a revised 0.6% in May, originally reported as a 0.5% decrease, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

The Treasury Department said Monday it estimates it will borrow $192 billion in the third quarter of 2014, assuming a $150 billion cash balance on September 30, 2014.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI) gained to 120.31 in July from an upwardly revised 119.92 in June, and is up 6.6% from a year ago, the group announced Monday.

New York City business activity grew at a faster pace in July, as the current business conditions index climbed to 68.1 from 60.5 in June, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Monday, indicated.

U.S. inflationary pressures were higher in July, as the U.S. future inflation gauge climbed to 106.9 from the unrevised June 105.5 reading, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

According to the ISM's monthly report on business, the ISM index gained to 57.1 in July from 55.3 in June.

Construction spending fell 1.8% in June, the Commerce Department said, but remains 5.5% above the June 2013 level.

The University of Michigan's final July consumer sentiment index reading was 81.8, compared to the preliminary July 81.3, and the final June 82.5, according to market sources.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said he objected to the Federal Open Market Committee statement because the projections for liftoff on the fed funds rate remains time dependent which is "inappropriate" and limits the panel's flexibility.

The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Business Barometer plunged to 52.6 in July from 62.6 in June, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business gained to 63.9 in July from 60.6 in June, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Thursday.

The Midwest Economy Index grew to 0.55 in June from a revised 0.45 in May, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported Thursday.

The Federal Open Market Committee continued to taper its asset purchases, cutting $5 billion off each its agency mortgage-backed securities and longer-term Treasury securities, and held the 0 to 1/4 percent target range for the federal funds rate.

About 5,044,600 online job postings appeared on leading Internet job boards in July, a decrease of 15,500 from June, the Conference Board reported Wednesday.

Texas service sector activity showed faster expansion in July, according to business executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey, as the revenue index gained to 21.5 from 16.9.

The consumer confidence index gained to 90.9 in July from a revised 86.4 last month, The Conference Board reported Tuesday.