The October personal income and outlay's report is not good news. Consumer spending decreased -0.2% from last month, and when adjusted for inflation was a -0.3% decline for October. Consumer spending is another term for personal consumption expenditures or PCE.
The DOL reported Initial weekly unemployment claims for the week ending on November 17th, 2012 were 410,000, a 41,000 drop from the previous week of 451,000. Superstorm Sandy's devastating effects can be seen in state not seasonally adjusted claims for the week of November 10th.
Hurricane Sandy wiped out almost a full percentage point of industrial production even though the storm hit New Jersey on October 29th. Twenty percent of industrial production activity is in counties affected by the storm and 3-4% of industrial production related employment is in the same areas. It matters where a Hurricane hits in terms of the economy.
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