Word: sharpest
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...orders received by U.S. factories in April fell 5.5% from the month before, the sharpest drop in more than five years. In April the factories operated at only 81% of capacity, down from 84.4% in January...
...Spending for new construction in April fell 3.6% from March, which had been down 5.4% from February, the sharpest fall in at least five years. The figures indicate that commercial and industrial construction have gone into a nosedive along with housing. Housing starts in April ran at an annual rate just above 1 million, close to the lows of the 1973-75 recession. The U.S. League of Savings Associations predicts that housing starts for the whole year will total only 1,050,000. That would be the smallest number since...
There was certainly enough material for the bad news bears. The nation's industrial production declined 1.9% in April, the sharpest drop since February 1975. The housing industry continued its free fall, as starts on single-family homes fell to their lowest level in ten years. Alan Greenspan, President Ford's chief economic adviser, predicted that the nation's business output would decline this spring at an annual rate of 7.7%, while Data Resources, Inc., in Lexington, Mass., saw an 8.1% drop...
Some of the sharpest criticism during last week's hearings was directed not at the Hunts but at Chairman Volcker. What was the man who was supposedly stopping speculation doing in a rescue operation to save the Hunts? Rhode Island Congressman Fernand St Germain complained that the Federal Reserve's role in the wings of the Hunts' search for bailout loans showed that when big speculators lose millions, "telephone calls come to Paul Volcker for a quick fix." This week St Germain and Senator William Proxmire plan to introduce new tough legislation that will change the rules...
...turning into a black nightmare. Last month the number of new houses on which construction was begun crashed 42% from last year's levels to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of just over 1 million units. This is the lowest rate since the 1974-75 recession and the sharpest monthly drop in 20 years. Worse still, the number of new building permits granted in March also sank sharply, which suggests that the bad housing news will get even worse. Says Robert Sheehan, director of economic research for the National Association of Home Builders: "Buyers and builders, sellers and lenders...