Gary Siegel

The Midwest Economy Index fell to negative 0.02 in March from a revised positive 0.05 in February, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago reported Monday.

The University of Michigan's final April consumer sentiment index reading was 84.1, compared to the preliminary April 82.6, and the final March 80.0, according to market sources.

Manufacturing activity in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's region "moderated slightly after rising to a two-year high in March, but producers' expectations for future factory activity climbed higher," according to the bank's monthly manufacturing survey, released Thursday.

U.S. durable goods orders surged 2.6% in March, while excluding transportation orders jumped 2.0%, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Initial jobless claims surged 24,000 to 329,000 in the week ended April 12, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Sales of new single-family homes plunged 14.5% to a 384,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in March, according to data released by the Commerce Department Wednesday.

The region's manufacturing sector expanded at a faster pace in April, as the general business conditions index climbed to 16.6 from 9.0 in March, this month's Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Report on Business indicates.

Initial jobless claims climbed 2,000 to 304,000 in the week ended April 12, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Initial jobless claims plunged 32,000 to 300,000 in the week ended April 5, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Current economic circumstances warrant a great deal of accommodation "for some time," especially given the "substantial and serious miss" on price stability, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President and Chief Executive Officer Charles L. Evans said Wednesday.

Weaker than expected economic activity was due in part, but not completely, to "unusually severe winter weather," resulting in a decrease in lowered projections for near-term output growth, according to minutes of the March 18-19 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

While it was agreed that forward guidance had to change since the 6.5% unemployment threshold was in jeopardy of being breached, Federal Open Market Committee members chose to describe the panel's like reaction to economic events rather than add "new quantitative language," according to the minutes of its latest meeting, released Wednesday.

Wholesale inventories increased 0.5% in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

The regulatory framework should be simplified and transparency increased, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President and Chief Executive Officer Charles I. Plosser said Tuesday.

The U.S. labor market remains "far from healthy," according to Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI) gained to 117.52 in March from an upwardly revised 117.01 in February, and is up 5.1% from a year ago, the group announced Monday.

Newly issued Treasury securities held in stripped form decreased about $1.590 billion in March to a total of $207.025 billion, the Bureau of the Public Debt reported Friday.

U.S. inflationary pressures were lower in March, as the U.S. future inflation gauge dipped to 103.1 from the revised February 104.4 reading, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a slightly faster pace in March as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 53.1 in the month, compared to 51.6 in February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Thursday.

Initial jobless claims rose 16,000 to 326,000 in the week ended March 29, the Labor Department said Thursday.