Patrick Temple-West

NEW YORK - The Federal Open Market Committee today held rates and said it will keep constant its holding of securities at their current level by reinvesting principal payments from agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in longer-term Treasury securities.

WASHINGTON — Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in June as wholesale sales declined for the second month in a row, the Commerce Department reported today.

WASHINGTON – U.S. nonfarm productivity unexpectedly decreased 0.9% in the second quarter of 2010, the first decline in six quarters, as hours and output increased, the Labor Department reported today.

WASHINGTON — Consumer borrowing slipped by $1.3 billion, or 0.7%, to $2.418 trillion in June, posting its fifth straight monthly decline, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.

WASHINGTON — Nonfarm payrolls shrank more than economists expected in July, losing 131,000 jobs, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.

WASHINGTON – Consumer borrowing slipped by $1.3 billion, or 0.7%, to $2.418 trillion in June, the fifth straight monthly decline, as nonrevolving credit increased for the second straight month, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.

WASHINGTON - Nonfarm payrolls fell by 131,000 in July and private nonfarm payrolls increased by 71,000 as the federal government continued to shed Census workers, the Labor Department reported today. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5%.

WASHINGTON — Despite recent headlines warning that deteriorating state and local finances will lead to bond defaults, a Treasury Department advisory committee has determined the municipal market “appears to be in reasonably good condition.”

WASHINGTON — Initial jobless claims increased more than economists expected to 479,000 for the week ending July 31, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON – Initial jobless claims increased to 479,000 for the week ending July 31, above economists' estimates and the highest level since April, the Labor Department reported today.

North Carolina’s pension fund reported an 11.97% return in the fiscal year ending June 30, according to the state treasurer’s office.

WASHINGTON — U.S. factory orders fell 1.2% in June, more than double what economists expected, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Economists expected factory orders to fall 0.5%, according to Thomson Reuters.

WASHINGTON — Personal income and consumption were both flat in June on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — U.S. factory orders fell 1.2% in June, the second straight monthly decline, and more than double the drop economists expected, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Personal income and consumption were both flat in June on a seasonally adjusted annual rate, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — Construction spending exceeded economist expectations in June as record federal investment contributed to a 0.1% gain from May, the Commerce Department reported Monday. May’s spending was revised sharply to a 1.0% drop from the 0.2% dip originally reported.

WASHINGTON — Fitch Ratings downgraded the Weirton Medical Center in West Virginia on Friday after Moody’s Investors Service took similar action earlier this year. But credit analysts and hospital managers said Weirton has the cash to make its debt-service payments.

WASHINGTON - Construction spending edged higher by 0.1% in June, while economists were expecting a decrease, as federal construction reached a record high, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

State and local government spending increased in the second quarter of 2010 for the first time in a year as municipalities splurged on capital improvements, but economists cautioned that the growth is unlikely to continue in the second half.

WASHINGTON — The annualized rate of expansion for real gross domestic product slowed to a 2.4% pace in the second quarter, the smallest gain in three quarters, the Commerce Department reported Friday.