Gary Siegel

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.

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

The Federal Open Market Committee will raise interest rates in the last half of next year, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President and CEO Dennis Lockhart said Wednesday.

About 4,894,100 online job postings appeared on leading Internet job boards in March, a decrease of 292,100 from February, the Conference Board reported Wednesday.

New orders for manufactured goods surged 1.6% in February, after dropping 1.0% in January, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

New York City business activity grew at a slower pace in March, as the current business conditions index dropped to 52.0 from 57.0 in February, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Wednesday, indicated.

Private sector employment increased by 191,000 jobs from February to March, according to the March ADP National Employment Report.

Texas service sector activity improved in March, according to business executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey, as the revenue index surged to 16.5 from 9.8.

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

Construction spending rose 0.1% in February, the Commerce Department said, 8.7% above the February 2013 level.

The Treasury Department said Monday it will sell $25 billion of four-week discount bills Tuesday.