Gary Siegel

Tender rates for the Treasury Department’s latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were lower, as the three-months incurred a 0.105% high rate, down from 0.125% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 0.150% high rate, off from 0.160% the week before.

The Treasury Department said it will auction $25 billion 42-day cash management bills on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a slightly slower pace in October as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 54.2 in the month, compared to 55.1 in September, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Monday.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index crept up 0.50% to 108.16 in October from a downwardly revised 107.63 in September, originally reported as 107.86, and is up 4.6% from a year ago, the group announced Monday.

While Fed action won't instantly fix the economy, it helps speed recovery and is "the best course" toward the Fed's dual mandate, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President and CEO John Williams said Friday.

U.S. inflationary pressures were slightly lower in October, as the U.S. future inflation gauge slipped to 103.5 from an upwardly revised 103.6 in September, originally reported as 103.4, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

The Fed should keep making asset purchases, its third round of quantitative easing, until the jobless rate falls to 7.25%, if market conditions signal "substantial improvement," Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said Thursday.

It may be difficult to define the substantial improvement the Federal Open Market Committee wants to see in labor markets before it reduces accommodation, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart.

Construction spending grew 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted estimated annual rate of $851.6 billion in September, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

The overall economy grew for the forty-first straight time, while the manufacturing sector expanded for the second consecutive month, the Institute for Supply Management reported Thursday.

The consumer confidence index surged to 70.3 in September from a downwardly revised 68.4 last month, The Conference Board reported Thursday.

Non-farm productivity grew at a 1.9 percent annual rate during the third quarter of 2012, while unit labor costs slid 0.1%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

Initial jobless claims, seasonally adjusted, slid 9,000 to 363,000 in the week ended October 27, from an upwardly revised 372,000 the week before.

The Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Business Barometer rose to 49.9 in October from 49.7 in September, the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said Wednesday.

The Treasury announced it will sell $16 billion of 30-year bonds on Nov. 8, $24 billion 10-year notes on Nov. 7 and $32 billion three-year notes on November 6 in its quarterly refunding.

The seasonally adjusted Milwaukee Report on Business dropped to 43.31 in September from 47.14 in September, the Institute for Supply Management-Milwaukee reported Wednesday.

Tender rates for the Treasury Department's latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were higher, as the three-months incurred a 0.125% high rate, up from 0.100% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 0.160% high rate, up from 0.150% the week before.

Texas factory activity, as measured by the production index, rose in October at a slower rate than in September, according to the monthly business activity survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, released Monday.

The Treasury Department Wednesday auctioned $25 billion of four-week bills at a 0.130% high yield, a price of 99.989889.

Personal income grew $48.1 billion, or 0.4%, while spending increased 0.8%, or $87.9 billion, the Commerce Department reported Monday.