This week was a quiet week for data. The most important number that was released this was the Federal Debt Number: $19.5 trillion dollars.  Another piece of important data was the Retail Sales Report. The rest of this week was spent digging into the Jobs Report data and the unemployment claims report data.

(9/12) There has been an abundance of discussions on why the Federal Reserve should or should not raise interest rates next week. This week the column "Why the Fed Should, Won't Raise interest rates" dug into the recent new home construction, new home sales, and existing home sales data as  well as the employment and unemployment data and the retail sales and consumer price index numbers. Just because they shouldn't raise rates doesn't mean that they won't.

(9/13) This column has dissected the employment data many different ways. This week the column "Obamanomics: Battle of the Sexes - Who Has Had a Better Recovery"  looked at the full-time and part-time job changes as well as the unemployment changes. Men lost 10 million full-time jobs during the recession. Women were not hit as hard. Women have added more full-time jobs and fewer part-time jobs then men since July 2007.

(9/14)  While running for office Senator Obama called the addition f $4 trillion in Federal Debt by President George W Bush "unpatriotic" and "irresponsible." When he took office the federal debt was just over $10 trillion. This month the "Unpatriotic and Irresponsible Debt Hit $19.5 trillion."

(9/15) The monthly retail sales report (MARTS) reveals where we are spending money. We have seen a consistent and persistent slowing in spending in the Gasoline Sector, the electronics and appliance sector, and the clothing sector. "Sluggish Retail Sales - Larger Adjusted Slowdown than Anticipated " analyzed the advanced retail sales numbers for August, the preliminary data for July, and the final numbers for June." There was some good news, some bad news, and lots of revisions.

(9/15) The Weekly Unemployment Claims Report has become an afterthought for many who follow economic data. "Alarming Unemployment Claims Numbers " details how low the non-seasonally adjusted first-time unemployment claims were and how the Seasonally Adjusted FTU number should have been reported even lower than it was. It also details how we are not at 80 consecutive weeks of under 300,000 seasonally adjusted claims.

(9/16) Friday was another day to dig into the August Employment Situation data in a another way - employment by sectors. There are eleven sectors that are measured. "Five Sectors have not returned to Pre-recession levels."

Thank you for another great week.