U.S. Economy: Services Expansion Unexpectedly Slows - 2007-04-04
U.S. service industries expanded at the slowest pace in close to four years in March, leaving the U.S. economy more exposed to slumps in manufacturing and housing.
The Institute for Supply Management's index of non- manufacturing businesses including banks, builders and retailers skidded to 52.4, lower than economists anticipated. Orders placed with American factories climbed 1 percent in February.
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Report: Job cuts in housing surge in 1Q - 2007-04-04
Job cuts in the housing industry exploded in the first quarter and almost matched the number of cuts in all of 2006, an outplacement consultancy declared on Wednesday. Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported that job cuts in housing, including real estate, construction and mortgage lending, surged 346 percent to 21,245 in the first quarter, versus 4,764 job cuts in the same quarter last year.
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