U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau will release its inflation-adjusted retail sales figures for the month of May tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. ET. Forecasts expect a 1.1 percent increase month-over-month. In April, retail sales were flat. Retail sales are considered the foremost indicator of consumer spending, which...

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced new residential construction statistics for April 2013. The data include building permits, housing starts and housing completions. Of the three, housing starts are the most important indicator for...

At first blush, retail sales posted a seemingly-anemic gain 0.1 percent gain in April after dropping a revised 0.5 percent in March, a bigger drop than the 0.4 percent decline originally reported. Expectations were for a 0.3 percent drop. The U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday that advance...

The trade deficit fell 11 percent as imports fell more than exports. While a drop in imports adds to GDP, as imports are a subtraction from domestic economic output, it could signal companies may desire to keep inventories low if they expect weaker sales ahead. The 0.4 percent dip in retail sales...

The Census Bureau reported a rise in the poverty rate to 14.3% in 2009, from 13.2% in 2008. This represents the highest poverty rate since 1994. According to last year's data, there were around 43.6 million people in poverty. Real median income for family households dropped 1.8%, and gained 1.6%...