Annual Rate

WASHINGTON - U.S. worker productivity grew in the second quarter at more than double the pace of the previous three months, and labor costs fell, giving Federal Reserve policy-makers further reason to refrain from raising interest rates this month. Productivity, a measure of output per hour worked, rose at a 5.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter after a 1.9 percent rate of increase in the first quarter, the Labor Department said yesterday. The increase over the past 12 months was the largest in 17 years.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent from April through June, as Americans cut back sharply on spending. The slowdown in growth adds to worries that the economy could be stalling three years after the recession ended. The Commerce Department also said Friday that the economy grew a little better than previously thought in the January-March quarter. It raised its estimate to a 2 percent rate, up from 1.9 percent. Growth at or below 2 percent isn't enough to lower the unemployment rate, which was 8.2 percent last month.

WASHINGTON - The job of the Federal Reserve and government policymakers got considerably more complicated yesterday when the Labor Department reported that consumer inflation is running at an annual rate of 5.6 percent, its highest level in 17 years. The Federal Reserve has been worried about inflation, or the rise in prices across the economy, for months. But it has left its benchmark federal funds rate at 2.0 percent since April, betting that the inflation pressures will ease when energy prices fall back.

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of just 1.5 percent from April through June, as Americans cut back sharply on spending. The slowdown in growth adds to worries that the economy could be stalling three years after the recession ended. The Commerce Department also said Friday that the economy grew a little better than previously thought in the January-March quarter. It raised its estimate to a 2 percent rate, up from 1.9 percent. Growth at or below 2 percent isn't enough to lower the unemployment rate, which was 8.2 percent last month.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. builders began construction on fewer houses in April, the Commerce Department said yesterday, in a sign that the economy is expected to cool from its first-quarter pace.Housing starts unexpectedly fell 2.3 percent last month to a 1.538 million-unit annual rate, the government said. In March, housing starts fell 2.5 percent to a 1.575 million rate.Analysts had expected an increase in starts last month. Even so, April marked the eighth straight month that starts exceeded 1.5 million at an annual rate -- the longest stretch at that pace since a run from May 1983 through November 1987.

Spending by consumers and businesses helped the economy grow at an annual rate of 3.1 percent in the second quarter, a stronger performance than estimated and a positive indicator that the national economy might finally be climbing out of its recent doldrums. "Considering we were looking a month or two ago [at] trying to reach the 1 percent mark, this is terribly good news," said Peter G. Glassman, a senior economist at Bank One in Chicago. "It's not increasing by a strong number, but it's strong in context."

The economy picked up speed in the third quarter to expand at a 3.7 percent annual rate, the government reported yesterday. Growth in the nation's output of goods and services exceeded the 3.3 percent rate registered in the second quarter - when the economy was held back by a surge in energy prices that took a bite out of American household budgets and dented consumer spending. Yet despite the third quarter's bounce, economists remained concerned that challenges from high oil prices and lackluster wage and job growth, too-weak exports and the end of corporate tax breaks could inhibit economic expansion in coming quarters.

Washington. -- The definitive history of greed is yet to be written but the broad outlines are well-known. Greed was inserted into the human story a while back by a serpent. Since then it has waxed and waned.For example, there was a little of it during the Dark Ages, when there was little to covet. True, the Visigoths were grasping people, but a distinction should be drawn between their innocent Third World ebullience and the greed Ronald Reagan let loose in America.There were gobs of greed during America's Gilded Age after the Civil War, when robber barons made disgusting amounts of money.

Numbers-- Productivity dipped at an annual rate of 0.5 percent in the October-December quarter, while wages rose at a 3.3 percent pace, the U.S. said.

Housing completions fell 14.2 percent in December, the Commerce Department said today. December completions, a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 991,000, is the lowest monthly rate since September 1982.For all of 1991, 1,087,700 homes were completed, down 16.8 percent from the 1,308,000 homes completed in 1990. Last year represents the weakest annual performance since 1,005,500 homes were completed in 1982, the agency said.The agency said that the annual rate of 140,000 completions in structures with five units or more is the lowest since such data was recorded in 1968.

WASHINGTON - - The housing market remains a significant risk to the economy, data released Wednesday showed, as bad weather across much of the country hammered the construction industry. Along with icy storms, the real estate recovery is facing man-made head winds. The government said Wednesday that buyers will face higher fees and tougher standards for home loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, a popular source of loans for first-time buyers. And unemployment is expected to remain high throughout the year, which is likely to drive the foreclosure rate to new records.

New-home construction fell sharply in October, underscoring the fragility of the fledgling housing recovery. Housing starts unexpectedly fell 10.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted 529,000 annual rate in October, compared with the prior month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That was a 30.7 percent drop from October 2008. Analysts were caught off guard by the news because many had expected an increase in new construction. Patrick Newport, U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight, called the plunge in housing starts a "shocker" in a note to clients.

Home sales declined sharply last month, and housing prices posted their deepest decline in four decades as a rapidly slowing economy discouraged many potential buyers from tip-toeing into the market. Sales of existing homes declined 8.6 percent last month, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.49 million, according to the National Association of Realtors, a trade association. The median price of a home fell 13 percent in November, to $181,300 from $208,000 a year ago. That was the lowest price since February 2004.

WASHINGTON - The job of the Federal Reserve and government policymakers got considerably more complicated yesterday when the Labor Department reported that consumer inflation is running at an annual rate of 5.6 percent, its highest level in 17 years. The Federal Reserve has been worried about inflation, or the rise in prices across the economy, for months. But it has left its benchmark federal funds rate at 2.0 percent since April, betting that the inflation pressures will ease when energy prices fall back.

WASHINGTON -- The slumping housing market dragged the U.S. economy in the third quarter into its weakest growth rate in more than three years, the government reported yesterday in its final reading of overall economic health before the Nov. 7 congressional elections. Inflation moderated, even without the impact of falling oil prices, but it remained higher than the Federal Reserve's "comfort zone" - keeping alive the possibility of future interest rate increases by the central bank. Many analysts said the relatively weak 1.6 percent growth in the third quarter represented the storm before the calm.

WASHINGTON -- A fall in private construction was only partially offset by a rise in public construction, causing U.S. construction spending to fall 0.9 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $403.1 billion.This followed a revised 1.2 percent increase in April to $406.6 billion, the Commerce Department said yesterday. Commerce earlier reported April construction spending up 0.8 percent.The May rate was 10.6 percent below the year-earlier level.The May spending pace in 1987 dollars was down 1.0 percent from April to a seasonally adjusted $361.

NEW YORK -- The productivity of American factories soared in the first quarter, an upbeat sign for profits and another indication that the drive to make American manufacturing leaner and more competitive has continued into the 1990s.Spurts in the production of computers and cars helped push up output per hour in the manufacturing sector, which makes up about a fifth of the economy, at an annual rate of 4.8 percent in the quarter, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yesterday.But productivity in the entire private economy -- which consists of services like banking, health, education and retailing -- did not rise in the first quarter, the first no-growth quarter since the recession officially ended two years ago.The bureau said yesterday that productivity edged down at an annual rate of 0.1 percent, after having surged at an annual rate of 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 1992.