Economic Gains & Losses

The Commerce Department reported that US factories have received largest amount of orders in nearly a year. Just in May they have increased by 1.2%, which is significantly better than what economists expected, 0.8%. May reflects 1.8% raise in the demand for durable goods, and 0.7% increase in demand for non-durable goods. There is also improvement in other areas such as iron and steal industries, industrial machinery and computers.

“Recession-weary employers in the U.S. slashed 467,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department reported, far worse than the 363,000 that economists expected and a grim signal that the path to recovery will be bumpy. The jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent in May.”

Read more on where the economy is today here.