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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales of new single-family homes fell 1.0% in June as purchases in the Northeast dropped to the lowest level since the government began tracking the data in 1973. Single-family sales fell last month to an annual rate of 312,000, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected sales to climb to an annual rate of 325,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. Sales for May were revised slightly lower to an annual rate of 315,000. Sales of single-family homes sank 15.8% in the Northeast and 12.7% in the West. The Midwest saw sales climb 9.5%...

To help American carmakers stay in business, autoworkers grudgingly gave up pay raises and some benefits four years ago. Now that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are making money again, workers want compensation for their sacrifice. Just how much they get is the central question hanging over contract talks that start this week between Detroit and one of the nation's largest and most powerful unions. The negotiations, the first since Chrysler and GM took government aid and emerged from bankruptcy, will set wages and benefits for 111,000 members of the United Auto Workers, including those at Ford, which avoided bankruptcy...

Compared with June 2010, sales fell 8.8%. Economists polled by MarketWatch had anticipated a 4.9 million sales rate. The data caught economists by surprise in part because pending homes sales were up 8.2% in May. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist of the NAR, said that “a very weak economy [led] to weak sales.” Cancellations spiked to 16% — the highest rate since the trade group started measuring them in May 2010 — way up from 4% in May but also above the typical 10%. Yun speculated that appraisal difficulties, financing problems and typical buyer’s remorse may have been behind the...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales at U.S. retailers increased a slim 0.1% in June, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday, better than economists expected but also further evidence of the reluctance of consumers to spend. The slight increase in June sales was unexpected. Ahead of the report, economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected sales to fall 0.2%. There were several cross-currents in the data. The increases were heaviest in sales of building materials and department stores. Gasoline sales were a large drag as expected because of the recent decline in prices at the pump.

June Same Store-Sales Surge, Limited Brands Crushes Expectations Mamta Badkar Jul. 7, 2011, 9:03 AM Retailers posted better than expected same-store sales for June. Warm weather is reported to have boosted sales after a soft start to the second quarter last month. The healthy consumer demand comes ahead of the back-to-school shopping season. Here are some names that crushed expectations (via CNBC): Limited Brands had a 12% increase in same-store sales crushing expectations of 3.8% gain. Victoria's Secret saw 17% growth, while Bath & Body Works grew 5%. Saks had an 11.9% increase in sales against expectations of 7%. Kohl's...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Pending home sales climbed 8.2% in May, bouncing back after a dismal April and another signal of stabilization in a difficult housing market. The climb in pending home sales, which represent contracts signed on existing homes, comes after an 11.3% downturn in April, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. The NAR had initially reported that April’s pending home sales declined 11.3%. The 13.4% gain from May 2010 levels marks the first time in 13 months that contract activity was above year-ago levels.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales at U.S. retailers decreased 0.2% in May to a seasonally adjusted $387.1 billion, the Commerce Department estimated Tuesday, further evidence that the economy has hit a soft patch. This is the first decline in sales since last June. But details of the report were not all weak. While auto sales were down as expected, there was some strength in building materials and miscellaneous stores. See full report. Compared with May 2010, sales are up 7.7%. Sales rose an downwardly revised 0.3% in April, compared with a 0.5% increase originally reported.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Amazon(AMZN) is in the midst of a heated battle with states over whether it should be required to collect sales taxes. While this has been an ongoing debate, the dispute recently escalated as states look to recover deficits coming out of the recession. One way to do this would be through sales taxes. In the past, Amazon has been protected by a 1992 Supreme Court ruling (Quill Corporation v. North Dakota) that prohibits a state from forcing a business to collect sales tax unless it has physical stores in the state. While tax payers in...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales at U.S. retailers increased for the 10th straight month in April, further evidence that the economy’s moving ahead at a gradual pace, according to the government’s latest data. Retail sales rose 0.5% in April to a seasonally adjusted $389.4 billion, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday. March sales were revised up to show 0.9% growth from an initial estimate of 0.4% growth; February sales were revised higher as well. Compared with April 2010, sales are up 7.6%... Excluding a 0.2% increase in sales of motor vehicles, retail sales rose 0.6% for April. Economists had expected a 0.7%...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales of new homes rose 11.1% in March, the Commerce Department said Monday, marking a mild improvement from the worst-ever showing as the dampening effect of winter storms and an expiring California tax credit wore off. The still-bleak reading of a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000 represented a 21.9% nosedive from March 2010 levels. However, the level beat a MarketWatch-compiled economist estimate of 290,000. February’s low reading of 250,000 was revised up to 270,000. Analysts had attributed February’s weakness in part to winter storms that depressed figures in the East and the Midwest, as well as...

I have a friend who just started a job selling cars. Used to be a stock broker. This is a desperation move. Problem is one of the other salesmen sits with his finger on the phone and insta-answers every incoming call on the first ring. That means he gets all the leads. Management knows and doesn't care. Once upon a time, I read that the phone line actually has a change in voltage before the first ring. Any Freeper know of a box or program that detects that and could answer/forward a call BEFORE the first ring? (I figured if...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The new year has brought little cheer to new-home builders: Their sales fell a shocking 11.2% between December and January and 18.6% from 12 months earlier. The total number of new homes sold in January was a seasonally adjusted 284,000, down from 325,000 in December, the government said Thursday. In total, the market is down 80% from its peak, which was set in July 2005, when the annualized rate of sales hit nearly 1.4 million. The big problem facing developers is that they face significant competition from foreclosed homes, which sell at bargain-basement prices. In fact,...

California has the nation’s highest statewide sales tax and second highest when combined with local levies, in the United States, according to a new report from the Tax Foundation. (California is one of three states (Utah and Virginia aren’t in the top 10) that levy a statewide, mandatory local sales tax, which the Tax Foundation combines in the state sales tax. Some other sources list California’s statewide rate as 7.25%.) Californians currently are paying an extra 1%, which is due to expire July 1, which would drop California to 8th on the Tax Foundation list. Gov. Jerry Brown wants the...

There has been a story and an e-mail floating around for some time claiming that the recent health care reform bill (PPACA/supplemental bill) would impose a 3.8 percent "sales" tax on the sale of every home.

FLINT, Mich. – General Motors has a shot at being No. 1 again. The resurgent automaker reported Monday that its worldwide sales last year came within 30,000 of beating Japanese rival Toyota, which took a big hit because of safety recalls. GM is hiring, producing more and basking in a better reputation for quality. It expects to sell even more cars and trucks this year, putting it within reach of the title of biggest in the world — an honor it held for 76 years before losing it in 2008. Regaining the global lead means a lot to workers on...

Actually, that’s almost certainly not true: As noted at the link, the BookScan numbers listed here only account for 75 percent of all sales typically, so total sales should be somewhere in the ballpark of 6,000.I know what you’re thinking because I know which yardstick you’re using to measure, but that comparison is absurd for a dozen different reasons. Honestly, are these numbers really that bad? Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s week-old book blitz got him plenty of face-time on national television, but he’s not in best-seller territory yet.Nielsen BookScan, a national data provider for the book publishing industry, shows...

This isn't good folks. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.5 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 1.5 percent before seasonal adjustment. The big gains here were in energy, up 4.6%. Coming right into the cold months this is not helpful. Not only was gasoline up 9.5% but fuel oil was up 4.9, which in the Northeast is a primary fuel. Natural gas was also up 1.4%. A look inside the data tables confirms - energy...

More than 1.5 million cell phones carrying Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating software have sold in the first six weeks of launch, meeting what the company called "realistic" expectations. Achim Berg, vice president of business and marketing for Windows phones, released sales numbers for the nascent platform for the first time in an internally conducted interview posted on Microsoft's website. (Msnbc.com is an NBC Universal-Microsoft joint venture.) Windows Phone 7 was unveiled in October and marked the software maker's expansion into a smart phone arena dominated by Apple and Google. Analysts say it could be Microsoft's last chance to establish...

The launch of 5-ounce America the Beautiful silver coins has been delayed while the U.S. Mint investigates consumer concerns over price premiums, the agency said. The U.S. Mint was slated to sell the coins yesterday. On Dec. 5, in a memo to authorized dealers, the agency said it would delay the program to “evaluate” consumer complaints about “the high prices and premiums being charged in the market.” Silver futures in New York, up 67 percent this year, touched a 30-year high of $30.75 an ounce on Dec. 7.

More bad news for Windows Phone 7: One UK online retailer reports that it accounts for only 3% of smartphone sales, and that Android phones outsell Windows Phone 7 by a whopping 15:1 margin. Can Microsoft ever catch up? The UK phone retailer MobilesPlease reports on its blog: Windows Phone 7 has got off to a sluggish start as far as our customers are concerned, accounting for just 3% of smartphone sales and a little under 2% of overall sales through MobilesPlease.co.uk and our network of partner sites that share our data feed. The blog goes on to note: I...