U.S. figures show economy slipping

New home sales and durable goods orders in the U.S. both fell in August while jobless claims jumped in the past two weeks in September, all signs of the American economy slipping badly, according to new data released Thursday.

The number of new houses that changed hands across the United States plummeted by 11.5 per cent in August compared to July and was a whopping 34.5 per cent below the sales level for the same month one year earlier.

In addition, durable goods orders - a measure of the sales of larger equipment and manufactured products - shrank 4.5 per cent in August compared with July, a drop twice as big as analysts had expected.

In addition, the weak durable goods number represented the first drop for this economic measure since last January.

The U.S. Commerce Department released the new homes data while the U.S. Census Bureau posted the durable goods orders.

Bad economic trend

New orders, omitting transportation equipment, fell three per cent August-versus-July, while durable orders, once defence equipment sales were subtracted, slide five per cent for the same period.

The poor showing by both the durable goods orders and new home sales is adding to the prevailing sense of economic gloom concerning the American economy.

"The recession winds are blowing harder," said BMO Capital Markets Sal Guatieri in a morning note.

Guatieri pointed out that the next measures of consumer spending and residential housing construction are also likely to exhibit weakness.

Higher claims

As well, initial jobless claims, which measures the number of Americans filing for employment benefits, rose another 32,000 for the latest two-week period, to 493,000 individuals.

While the fallout from the Hurricane Ike caused much of the recent employment dislocation, any figure higher than 400,000 still indicates a faltering economy.

This figure was calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor.