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The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.8 percent in April, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This advance followed increases of 0.7 percent in March and 1.6 percent in February. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods climbed 1.3 percent in April, and the crude goods index rose 4.0 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods moved up 6.8 percent for the 12 months ended April 2011, the largest year-over-year gain since an 8.8-percent increase in September 2008.

Mortgage rates dropped again, with the benchmark conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate falling to 4.82 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.4 discount and origination points.

There were 3.1 million job openings on the last business day of March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The job openings rate (2.3 percent) was unchanged over the month, following a gain in February. The hires rate (3.1 percent) and the separations rate (2.9 percent) also were unchanged in March. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector by industry and geographic region.

A macroeconomic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail and services sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.

March's exports of U.S. goods and services - $172.7 billion - was the largest monthly total ever recorded. This number surpassed the previous record of $167.5 billion, which occurred in January 2011, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Freddie Mac released its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for May showing a pick-up in economic growth in the second half of 2011 but with unemployment lingering above 8 percent through year-end. A large number of workers unemployed for a long period remains the predominant force behind seriously delinquent rates on mortgages.

comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, released its Q1 2011 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, which showed that online retail spending reached $38.0 billion for the quarter, up 12 percent versus year ago. This growth rate represented the sixth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth rates.

Better economic conditions and a more optimistic U.S. employer base have more people back to work. Fifty-nine percent of workers who were laid off from full-time jobs in the last year reported they found new positions, up from 55 percent last year. The amount of workers who took jobs in different fields from where they previously worked rose from 48 percent last year to 60 percent in the 2011 survey, reflecting a growing trend where workers are re-educating and/or re-packaging skill sets to appeal to a broader set of employers. More than 900 workers who were laid off in the last year participated in the study, which was conducted by Harris Interactive from February 21 to March 10, 2011.

Small and mid-sized business (SMB) owners reveal an overwhelming desire for banks to offer options when a loan application is denied. The Spring 2011 edition of the Capital Access Network (CAN) Small Business Barometer reveals that 78 percent of SMBs would consider an alternative working capital option if offered by their bank and 71 percent stated that their opinion of the bank would improve as a result. SMBs want to work with their bank; 43 percent say the bank is one of the most desirable sources for working capital but only 34 percent of businesses turn to the bank first.

CoreLogic, a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, released its March Home Price Index (HPI) which shows that home prices in the U.S. declined for the eighth month in a row. According to the CoreLogic HPI, national home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 7.5 percent in March 2011 compared to March 2010 after declining by 5.8 percent* in February 2011 compared to February 2010. Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices declined by 0.96 percent in March 2011 compared to March 2010 and by 2.0 percent in February 2011 compared to February 2010. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.