Gary Siegel

Business inventories rose 0.4% to $1.717 trillion in March, while sales increased 1.0% to $1.326 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

Despite sophisticated models, experience and theories, predictions about when the Federal Open Market Committee will begin to raise the federal funds rate is nothing more than the "best guesses" of participants, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President and CEO Richard W. Fisher said Friday.

Wholesale inventories increased 1.1% in March, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Initial jobless claims plunged 26,000 to 319,000 in the week ended May 3, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Monetary policy would be more transparent and forward guidance would be boosted if the Federal Reserve gave more details about policy would move based on conditions, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President and Chief Executive Officer Charles I. Plosser said Thursday.

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

Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen said there is no timetable for the first interest rate hike.

With considerable slack in labor markets and inflation below the Federal Reserve's 2% target, "a high degree of monetary accommodation remains warranted," Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday.

Newly issued Treasury securities held in stripped form increased about $870 million in April to a total of $207.894 billion, the Bureau of the Public Debt reported Tuesday.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI) gained to 118.00 in April from an upwardly revised 117.77 in March, and is up 5.1% from a year ago, the group announced Monday.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a faster pace in April as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 55.2 in the month, compared to 53.1 in March, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Monday.

New orders for manufactured goods surged 1.1% in March, after climbing 1.5% in February, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

New York City business activity grew at a slower pace in April, as the current business conditions index dropped to 50.6 from 52.0 in March, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Friday, indicated.

U.S. inflationary pressures were higher in April, as the U.S. future inflation gauge climbed to 104.7 from the revised March 103.9 reading, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

The overall economy grew for the fifty-ninth straight time, while the manufacturing sector expanded for the eleventh consecutive month, the Institute for Supply Management reported Thursday.

Construction spending rose 0.2% in March, the Commerce Department said, 8.4% above the March 2013 level.

The Chicago Purchasing Managers' Business Barometer soared to 63.0 in April from 55.9 in March, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said Wednesday.

The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business fell to 47.3 in April from 56.0 in March, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Wednesday.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $25 billion of four-week bills at a 0.010% high yield, a price of 99.999222.

Texas service sector activity rose in April, according to business executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey, as the revenue index gained to 18.5 from 16.5.