Economic News - August 21, 2008

Jobless Claims - August 21, 2008

Initial Claims: 432,000
Change from Last Week: Down 13,000

Money Supply (M1 and M2) - August 21, 2008

M1 Seasonally Adjusted Prior Month: $1401.0 billion
M2 Seasonally Adjusted Prior Month: $7726.2 billion

Leading Index (US) - July 2008

Leading Index: Down 0.7%
Coincident Index: Up 0.1%
Lagging Index: Up 0.4%

Freddie Mac reports drop in mortgage rates

Freddie Mac reported rates down again this week for all terms except
the 1-year Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM). The 5-year Treasury-indexed
hybrid ARM dropped slightly as did the 15-year Fixed Rate Mortgage
(FRM) and the 30-year FRM. All rates are lower than this time last year
and the Freddie Mac conforming ARM is still under 5.5% at 5.29 with 0.5
point.

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Inflation Is Stinging U.S. Workers Harder

Inflation is rising faster than the wages of U.S. workers compared with that of
Europeans. However, economists say the euro zone faces a "major risk"
of a wage-price inflationary spiral if businesses increase prices to
cover labor costs.

Central Bankers at Jackson Hole May See Few Ways to Fix Market, Economies

The world's top central bankers gather at their annual U.S. mountainside symposium today with a sense there's not much more they can do to repair credit markets
and rescue the global economy.

Taiwan's Economic Growth Probably Slowed on Weaker Spending, U.S. Exports

Taiwan's economy probably grew at the slowest pace in more than a year last quarter as consumer spending cooled and U.S. customers bought fewer laptops, flat-
screen televisions and mobile phones.

Nobel Laureates Scholes, Stiglitz Predict Slowdown; Goldman Sees Recession

Nobel Prize-winning economists including Myron Scholes and Joseph Stiglitz predicted the credit squeeze will inflict more pain on global growth and Goldman
Sachs Group Inc. projected half of the world economy faces recession.

Economic growth to slow further into 2009-MAPI

Lower energy costs eases pressure on factories

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