| In the News |
 hile Hurricane Sandy dominated last week's headlines, it was a heavy week for economic news, with employment data dominating, starting with October unemployment scores. The unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9, with the U.S. economy adding 171,000 non-farm jobs over the course of the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week.Key growth sectors for jobs were professional and business services, health care, and retail trade. Professional and business services added 51,000 jobs in October; health care added 31,000 jobs; and retail trade added 36,000 jobs for the month. The number of long-term unemployed (workers without jobs for 27 weeks or longer) hovered at 5 million, and accounted for 40.6 percent of the unemployed. The number of workers involuntarily employed part time for economic reasons — such as having their hours cut back or because of being unable to find a full-time job — fell by 269,000 to 8.3 million in October, partially offsetting an increase of 582,000 in September. In more recent employment news, the number of first-time claims for jobless benefits filed during the week ending Oct. 27 dropped to 363,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 372,000, the Employment and Training Administration reported. The four-week moving average was 367,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average of 368,750. The total number of unemployed workers covered by unemployment insurance for the week ending Oct. 20 ticked up to 3,263,000, an increase of 4,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,259,000, the Administration also reported. The four-week moving average was 3,266,500, a decrease of 6,250 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,272,750. Another key newsmaker was personal income and spending, with incomes increasing $48.1 billion, or 0.4 percent, in September, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis' report from last week. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $43 billion, or 0.4 percent, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $87.9 billion, or 0.8 percent. Real disposable income (after taxes) decreased less than 0.1 percent in September and real PCE increased 0.4 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent. Personal outlays — PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments — increased $93.1 billion in September. Personal saving — DPI less personal outlays — skirted down to $395 billion in September, compared with $445.1 billion in August. The personal saving rate, which is personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income, declined to 3.3 percent in September from 3.7 percent in August. The employment and income news perhaps had a beneficial effect on consumer attitudes, with the Consumer Confidence Index gaining again in October, according to the Conference Board. The Index now stands at 72.2 (a baseline of 100 was set in 1985), up from 68.4 in September. The Present Situation Index, which describes consumers' opinions of their current economic status, increased to 56.2 from 48.7. The Expectations Index, how they think their situation will trend, improved to 82.9 from 81.5 last month. In real estate news, construction spending during September hit an annual rate of $851.6 billion, a 0.6 percent gain over August's revised estimate of $846.2 billion, the Census Bureau reported last week. The September figure was 7.8 percent over September 2011's rate of $790.3 billion. Spending on private construction hit an annual rate of $580.5 billion, 1.3 percent over August's revised estimate of $572.8 billion. Residential construction grew to an annual rate of $285.9 billion in September, marketing a 2.8 percent gain over August's revised estimate of $278.0 billion. This week we can expect:
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