Economy

The Southern California housing market hit a bump in the road during May. Sales of single-family homes in the six-county region dropped 2.3 percent from April and were down 15.1 compared with May of last year, according to DataQuick’s monthly housing report. Year-over-year sales have now dropped for eight consecutive …

Some more good jobs news, this time from U.S. Department of Labor. There were 4.5 million job openings on the last business day of April, up from 4.2 million at the end of March, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. The hires rate, 3.4 …

The rush of spending by U.S. consumers during the last week of May slowed down last week. Same-store-sales were down 2.8 percent during the week that ended Saturday compared with the previous week, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Stores Sales Index, which …

Chain stores in the United States posted a 4.8 percent year-over-year gain in May, according to data released Thursday by the International Council of Shopping Centers. That increase was well above the average year-over-year increase of the past three months – 3.7 percent – and well above the three to …

The summer shopping season is off to a solid start. National retail sales were up 3.1 percent year-over-year for the week that ended Saturday, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers and Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index. Sales were up 2.9 percent compared with the previous week, …

Inland Empire manufacturing turned in another solid month in May. The region’s purchasing managers index was 57.7, well above the 50 benchmark that determines an expanding manufacturing sector, according to the monthly report on business released yesterday by the Institute of Applied Research and Policy Analysis at Cal State San …