Accuval | Insights | Key Industry Indicator

This Month’s Economic Indicators: This Month’s Key Indicator | Prior Month’s Key Indicators | Quarterly Indicators | Industry Indicators

The State of the Economy
The Workings of the Labor Market In addition to the unemployment rate — currently hovering around 9.5% — measures such as unemployment duration, labor market tightness and the participation rate can offer deeper insight into the workings of the labor market and overall economy.

The Workings of the Labor Market

In addition to the unemployment rate — currently hovering around 9.5% — measures such as unemployment duration, labor market tightness and the participation rate can offer deeper insight into the workings of the labor market and overall economy.

This Month’s Key Indicator
Index	Q1 2010	Q4 2009	Q3 2009	Q2 2009	Q1 2009	Q4 2008	Q3 2008	Q2 2008	Q1 2008	Q4 2007	Q3 2007	Q2 2007	Q1 2007
Air freight (tons)	818,788	766,493	723,075	663,356	635,796	634,187	770,850	848,275	855,874	858,533	882,601	882,014	915,489

Monthly Indicators
Index	July-10	June-10	May-10	Apr-10	Mar-10	Feb-10	Jan-10	Dec-09	Nov-09	Oct-09	Sep-09	Aug-09	Jul-09
New Residential Sales		330,000	267,000	446,000	439,000	324,000	315,000	348,000	370,000	430,000	409,000	417,000	426,000
Construction Spending Annual Rate		$836.0	$834.8	$843.3	$869.1	$845.9	$845.5	$889.6	$913.2	$910.8	$910.4	$933.0	$934.6
Consumer Confidence Index	67.8	76.0	73.6	72.2	72.2	73.6	74.4	72.5	67.4	70.6	73.5	65.7	66.0
Unemployment	9.5%	9.5%	9.7%	9.9%	9.7%	9.7%	9.7%	10.0%	10.0%	10.2%	9.8%	9.7%	9.4%
Trade Deficit		$49.9	$42.3	$40.3	$40.0	$39.4	$37.0	$39.9	$36.4	$32.9	$36.5	$30.7	$31.9
Natural Gas Prices (National Avg.)			$4.04	$3.92	$4.36	$4.89	$5.14	$4.44	$3.64	$3.60	$2.92	$3.14	$3.43
Dow Jones Industrial Average	10465	10143	10136	11008	10850	10325	10067	10428	10309	9712	9665	9544	9171
U.S. Regular Retail Gasoline	$2.72	$2.73	$2.83	$2.84	$2.77	$2.64	$2.71	$2.60	$2.65	$2.55	$2.55	$2.61	$2.52
Retail Advance Monthly Sales		$360.2	$362.50	$366.40	$363.19	$355.55	$354.34	$352.9	$353.9	$347.6	$342.7	$351.4	$354.4
Shipments — Manufactured Durable Goods		$195.0	$196.0	$193.9	$182.2	$179.9	$180.7	$181.9	$175.9	$173.8	$173.2	$164.4	$173.1
Disposable Personal Income		$11,363.3	$11,252.0	$11,203.0	$11,139.3	$11,088.1	$11,083.0	$11,049.9	$10,999.7	$10,960.3	$10,959.8	$10,998.0	$10,964.2
Unleaded Gasoline, Rack Prices, Omaha	$2.12	$2.11	$2.15	$2.31	$2.24	$2.03	$2.11	$2.01	$2.06	$1.99	$1.85	$2.00	$1.99
Ethanol, Rack Prices, Omaha	$1.62	$1.64	$1.68	$1.60	$1.70	$1.83	$1.95	$2.15	$2.14	$1.94	$1.69	$1.72	$1.72
New Residential Construction		$258,257	$260,790	$261,722	$249,340	$248,735	$266,164	$242,961	$248,980	$252,987	$247,391	$242,490	$227,733
Non-residential Construction		$269,311	$275,554	$277,184	$275,079	$275,902	$281,465	$297,046	$306,845	$318,046	$331,902	$342,568	$348,877
Public Construction		$308,444	$536,344	$538,906	$524,419	$524,637	$547,629	$592,957	$581,246	$585,531	$590,459	$605,167	$608,434
Building Permit Authorizations		583	574	610	685	650	629	681	621	576	605	610	587
Crude Oil Spot, WTI, Cushing	$76.32	$75.34	$73.74	$84.29	$81.20	$76.39	$78.33	$74.47	$77.99	$75.72	$69.41	$71.05	$64.15

Quarterly Indicators
Index	Q2 2010	Q1 2010	Q4 2009	Q3 2009	Q2 2009	Q1 2009	Q4 2008	Q3 2008	Q2 2008	Q1 2008	Q4 2007	Q3 2007	Q2 2007
Gross Domestic Product	$14,597.7	$14,453.8	$14,463.4	$14,242.1	$14,151.2	$14,178.0	$14,347.3	$14,546.7	$14,497.8	$14,343.9	$14,337.9	$14,179.9	$13,997.2
Rental Vacancy Rate for Housing	10.6%	10.6%	10.7%	11.1%	10.6%	10.1%	10.1%	9.9%	10.0%	10.1%	9.6%	9.8%	9.5%
Homeowner Vacancy Rate	2.5%	2.6%	2.7%	2.6%	2.5%	2.7%	2.9%	2.8%	2.8%	2.9%	2.8%	2.7%	2.6%
Homeownership Rates	66.9%	67.10%	67.2%	67.6%	67.4%	67.3%	67.5%	67.9%	68.1%	67.8%	67.8%	68.2%	68.2%

Industry Indicators
Index	July-10	June-10	May-10	Apr-10	Mar-10	Feb-10	Jan-10	Dec-09	Nov-09	Oct-09	Sep-09	Aug-09	Jul-09
Platinum - NYMEX ($/t oz)	$1,576.9	$1,570.4	$1,547.4	$1,745.1	$1,639.8	$1,538.0	$1,501.3	$1,460.0	$1,459.5	$1,326.3	$1,295.6	$1,244.0	$1,189.0
Copper High Grade — Comex ($/lb)	$3,307	$2.759	$2.914	$3.337	$3.546	$3.268	$3.046	$3.079	$3.148	$2.947	$2.809	$2.808	$2.616
Hot Rolled, Steel Plate ($/tonne)				$788	$706	$676	$642	$639	$643	$655	$641	$622	$604
Cold Rolled, Stainless 304 ($/tonne)	$3,489	$3,721	$3,690	$3,431	$3,146	$3,023	$2,912	$3,053	$3,043	$3,076	$2,949	$2,793	$2,489
Gold - London A.M. Fix ($/t oz)	$1,168	$1,232	$1,204	$1,148	$1,115	$1,095	$1,119	$1,135	$1,126	$1,043	$996	$949	$934
Beef Prices — Retail Value (¢/lb)		449.1	446.3	444.0	430.8	420.4	418.9	428.5	429.9	413.7	413.2	421.6	417.9
Est. Monthly Sales - Food Services & Drinking Places		$39,409	$39,510	$39,454	$39,414	$39,218	$35,797	$37,944	$38,162	$37,820	$37,822	$37,921	$38,039
Aluminum, LME ($/tonne)	$2,126.00	$1,931.39	$2,040.53	$2,316.73	$2,205.63	$2,048.93	$2,235.15	$2,179.29	$1,948.60	$1,877.80	$1,833.09	$1,933.03	$1,667.11

Key Economic Indicators

The Workings of the Labor Market