Patrick Temple-West

The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in October to $32.9 billion as exports and imports rose while a measure of crude oil imports dropped to its lowest level in nine years, the Commerce Department said yesterday.

WASHINGTON – The federal government posted a $120.3 billion budget deficit in November, the Treasury Department reported today.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in October to $32.9 billion as exports and imports rose while a measure of crude oil imports dropped to the lowest level in nine years, the Commerce Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — Municipal issuers will sell an estimated $450.5 billion of long- and short-term tax-exempt debt in 2010, a 7.9% rise over the $417.5 billion estimated for 2009, while the number of taxable Build America Bonds issued in 2010 could be 50% more than this year’s total, according to a survey of broker-dealers last month compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

Wholesale inventories increased 0.3% in October, the first increase in 13 months, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON — Wholesale inventories increased 0.3% in October, the first increase in 13 months, the Commerce Department reported today.

WASHINGTON – Consumer credit fell $3.5 billion in October, or 1.7% at an annual rate, to a seasonally adjusted $2.483 trillion from $2.486 trillion in September, the Federal Reserve reported today.

New factory orders for manufactured goods rose 0.6% in October, the sixth increase in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Orders excluding transportation rose 0.5%.

Employers shed 11,000 jobs in November, the smallest monthly job decline in two years, as the unemployment rate inched down to 10.0%, signaling that the worst post-WWII recession may be over, the Labor Department reported Friday.

WASHINGTON — New factory orders for manufactured goods rose 0.6% in October, the sixth increase in seven months, the Commerce Department reported today.

WASHINGTON – Employers shed 11,000 jobs in November, the smallest monthly job decline in two years, as the unemployment rate inched down to 10.0% signaling that the worst post-WWII recession may be over, the Labor Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday cautioned lawmakers against pushing for a job-creation bill right now, saying the first federal stimulus law has not fully affected the economy and that it may be “early to do more fiscal actions.”

U.S. nonfarm productivity was revised to an 8.1% annual rate of increase in the third quarter, down from the 9.5% increase initially reported for the quarter in the preliminary report last month, but still the largest productivity increase in six years, the Labor Department said yesterday.

Initial jobless claims declined 5,000 to 457,000 for the week ending Nov. 28, the Labor Department reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON – U.S. nonfarm productivity was revised to an annual rate of increase of 8.1% for the third quarter, down from the 9.5% increase reported last month, but still the largest productivity increase in six years, the Labor Department said today.

WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims declined 5,000 to 457,000 for the week ending Nov. 28, the fifth straight weekly drop and the lowest level of claims in more than a year, the Labor Department reported today.

North Carolina is hoping to capitalize on the recession’s silver lining by financing highway construction with an innovative contract between the state and private contractors — a deal that could accomplish one of Gov. Beverly Perdue’s transportation goals, even though the state treasurer’s office has expressed some reservations.

Construction spending inched higher in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $910.8 billion — officially flat, but less than a 0.1% increase — as private residential construction increased by the largest amount in 11 years, the Commerce Department reported yesterday.

WASHINGTON - Construction spending inched higher in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $910.8 billion, officially flat, but less than a 0.1% increase, as private residential construction increased by the largest amount in 11 years, the Commerce Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia could garner its lowest new-money, fixed interest rates ever when it couples income tax-secured revenue bonds with its first taxable Build America Bonds in an expected $661 million negotiated deal scheduled for early December.