Breaking News
Mar 12, 2024
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Consumer price inflation in February unexpectedly increased to 3.2% from 3.1% in the previous month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.
The rising cost of shelter and gasoline contributed about 60% of overall inflation as rents continued to rise across the nation.
On a monthly basis, inflation held steady at 0.4% and matched the rate in January.
Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, rose at a slower annual pace of 3.8%, compared to 3.9% in January.
Prices of food, shelter, new vehicles, and medical care continued to rise, but at a slower pace in the month.
Food price inflation slowed to 2.2% from 2.6%, housing costs eased to 5.7% from 6.0%, new vehicle prices rose 0.4% from 0.6%, and medical care inflation eased to 2.9% from 3.0%.
However, transportation costs accelerated to 9.9%, compared to 9.5% in the previous month. -
Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 275,000 in February, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.9%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.
The February month's increase was higher than the average 230,00 monthly gain in the last 12 months.
The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 3.9% in February, and the number of unemployed people increased by 334,000 to 6.5 million.
A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.6%, and the number of unemployed people was 6.0 million.
The number of long-term unemployed, those seeking jobs for 27 weeks or more, held steady at 1.2 million in February.
Moreover, the employment participation rate and employment-to-population ratio held steady for the third month in a row at 62.5% and 60.1%, respectively.
In addition, there are 5.7 million people still seeking jobs, but not in the labor force, as in the previous month.
Average hourly earnings for all employees rose at a slower monthly pace of 0.1% and an annual rate of 4.3% to $34.57 in February.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised down by 43,000 to 290,000, and the change for January was revised down by 124,000 to 229,000.
With these revisions, employment in December and January combined is 167,000 lower than previously reported. -
American Eagle jumped 11.7% to $26.20 after the specialty apparel retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly results.
The company also took on an impairment and restructuring charge of $98.3 million related to its internal logistics business, Quiet Platform, which the company put together through various acquisitions during the COVID-19 pandemic years between 2020 and 2022.
Revenue in the holiday quarter increased 12% to $1.68 billion from $1.5 billion, net income plunged to $6.3 million from $54.6 million, and diluted earnings per share dropped to 3 cents from 28 cents a year ago. -
The U.S. goods and services trade deficit increased to $67.4 billion in January from the revised $64.2 billion in December, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday.
The trade deficit in goods and services was the widest in nine months, after exports struggled to advance and imported energy rebounded.
Exports edged up 0.1% to $257.2 billion, and imports advanced 1.1% to $324.6 billion.
The goods and services deficit decreased $2.9 billion from a year ago, or 4.1%, after exports fell 0.4%, or $1.0 billion, and imports decreased 1.2%, or $3.9 billion.
The January increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $3.0 billion to $91.6 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.3 billion to $24.2 billion.
The U.S. recorded a goods deficit with China of $22.9 billion, the European Union $18.1 billion, Mexico $12.7 billion, Vietnam $8.5 billion, Japan $7.3 billion, Germany $6.3 billion, Ireland $6.0 billion, Canada $5.7 billion, South Korea $5.5 billion, Taiwan $4.8 billion, Italy $3.8 billion, and India $3.7 billion.
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The number of job openings decreased by 86,000 to 8.9 million in January from the previous month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
The job openings measure is down from a series high of 12.2 million in March 2022.
In January, job openings increased in nondurable goods manufacturing by 82,000 but decreased in private educational services by 41,000.
Over the month, the number of hires and total separations were little changed, at 5.7 million and 5.3 million, respectively.
The number of job openings for December was revised down by 137,000 to 8.9 million, the number of hires was revised up by 166,000 to 5.8 million, and the number of total separations was revised up by 54,000 to 5.4 million.
In 2023, the annual average job opening level was 9.4 million, a decrease of 1.8 million from 2022. The annual average job opening rate was 5.7 percent in 2023, compared to 6.8 percent in 2022. -
Duolingo soared 20.1% to $235.56 after the language learning platform estimated strong revenue guidance in the fiscal first quarter and full-year after posting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.
Total revenue in the fourth quarter increased 45% to $151 million from $103 million, net income swung to $12.1 million from a loss of $13.9 million, and diluted earnings per share were 29 cents compared to a loss of 35 cents a year ago.
Cash flow from operating activities was $49.2 million compared to $11.6 million in the prior year quarter, and free cash flow was $47.7 million compared to $11.3 million in the prior year quarter.
Total bookings increased 51% from a year ago to $191 million, and paid subscribers surged 57% to 6.6 million at the end of the quarter. -
Personal income unexpectedly increased by 1.0%, while personal expenditure declined by 0.1%, according to the data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, an alternative measure of inflation that accounts for product substitution by consumers, increased by 0.3% on the month and by 2.4% from a year ago.
The December price index was downwardly revised to an increase of 0.1%.
The core price index, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.4% for the month and rose 2.8% from a year ago as consumers continued to shift spending to services from goods.
Core inflation accelerated from an increase of 0.1% in December.
Services prices increased by 0.6% and goods prices decreased by 0.2% from the previous year, respectively, and the changes were larger when compared to the data a year ago.
Services prices rose 3.9%, and goods prices declined 0.5% from a year ago.
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Birkenstock edged up 0.3% to $52.12 after the newly listed German sandals company reported higher revenue and narrowed its loss in the holiday quarter.
Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 22% to Є302.9 million from Є248.5 million, net loss shrank to Є7.15 million from Є9.19 million, and diluted loss per share fell to 4euro cents from 5 euro cents a year ago. -
Best Buy increased 4.8% to $83.46 after the electronics retailer reported a smaller-than-expected decline in sales.
Revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter ending on February 3rd declined to $14.65 billion from $14.73 billion, net income fell to $460 million from $495 million, and diluted earnings per share dropped to $2.12 from $2.23 a year ago.
In the quarter, the company returned a total of $268 million to shareholders through dividends of $198 million and share repurchases of $70 million.
For the full year, the company returned a total of $1.1 billion to shareholders through dividends of $801 million and share repurchases of $340 million.
The company announced its board of directors approved a 2% increase in the regular quarterly dividend to $0.94 per share payable on April 11 to shareholders of record on March 21.
The retailer guided fiscal 2025 earnings per share in the range of $5.75 to $6.20 and anticipated revenue between $41.3 billion and $42.6 billion.
For the fiscal first quarter, Best Buy expects comparable sales to decline by approximately 5%, with a non-GAAP operating income rate of around 3.4%, matching the rate in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. -
Salesforce inched up 0.5% to $301.36 after the customer relationship management software reported better-than-expected quarterly results but guided revenue growth of less than 9% in the current fiscal year.
Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 11% to $9.29 billion, net income swung to a profit of $1.44 billion from a loss of $98 million, and diluted earnings per share were $1.47 compared to a loss of 10 cents a year ago.
The company guided fiscal year 2025 first quarter revenue between $9.12 billion and $9.17 billion, and GAAP diluted earnings per share between $1.42 and $1.44.
For the full-year fiscal year 2025, the company estimated revenue between $37.7 billion and $38.0 billion, and GAAP diluted earnings per share between $6.07 and $6.15.
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