Economic growth slid to 1.3% in the first quarter of 2007, the slowest pace in four years, the Commerce Department reported April 27. By comparison, the rate of growth in the final quarter of 2006 was 2.5%. Sales of existing homes plunged 8.4% in March, the worst one-month decline in 18 years, the National Association of Realtors said April 25. The median price of an existing home fell to $217,000, a 0.3% decline from March 2006. Inventories of unsold homes nationally rose to a 7.3-month supply, the highest level since October. New home sales in March rose 2.6% over February, but were down 23% from March 2006, the second weakest year-over-year sales performance since September 2001, the Census Bureau reported April 25. Surprisingly, the median price of a new home sold in March was $254,000, up 6.3% from the price of a new home sold a year earlier. Orders for durable goods — those expected to last three years or longer — climbed a robust 3.4% in March, the Commerce Department said April 25. The pickup in orders followed February’s 2.4% gain, handily surpassing Wall Street economists’ expectations for a 2.5% increase. Reflecting worries over rising gasoline prices, consumer confidence in the economy fell to a less-than-expected 104 in April from 108 in March, according to the Conference Board’s Index of Consumer Sentiment released April 24. Analysts expected the index to come in at 105. For the week ended April 26, mortgage rates fell for the second straight week, following the sharp drop in existing home sales and signs of waning U.S. consumer confidence.

American consumers lost confidence for the third straight month, with the Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index, released April 13, hitting an eight-month low of 85.3 in April from March’s 88.4. Consumers responding to the survey said they expect inflation to rise.

The March Producer Price Index (PPI) — which measures prices before they reach consumers — rose 1 percent after February’s 1.3 percent increase, the Labor Department reported April 13. March’s jump was slightly ahead of a 0.7 percent increase predicted by experts, who attributed March’s jump to rising energy and food costs. Meanwhile the core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, was unchanged.

Contrary to economists’ predictions of a widening U.S. trade deficit, the gap actually narrowed in February to $58.4 billion from January’s $58.9 billion, the Commerce Department reported April 13. Economists had predicted the deficit would widen in February to $60 billion. Imports of goods and services fell 1.7 percent to $182.4 billion and exports declined by 2.2 percent to $124 billion.

Imports from China fell to their lowest level since May 2006, with the trade gap dropping to $18.4 billion in February from January’s $21.3 billion.

The unemployment rate in March fell to 4.4%, matching a five-year low, the Labor Department reported April 6. Employers boosted their payrolls by 180,000 workers in March, the most since December. The figures suggest that companies are not feeling a need to restrict hiring in an economy that has otherwise shown signs of sluggishness. New orders placed with U.S. factories rose by 1% in February, the Commerce Department said April 4. Economists were expecting a bigger 1.9% increase. Despite the lackluster showing, February’s performance was a sharp improvement from the 5.7% plunge in new orders reported in January. Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its manufacturing index slipped to 50.9 in March, smaller than February’s reading of 52.3 and Wall Street’s expectation of 51. Any reading larger than 50 indicates growth for the sector. Similarly, growth in the nation’s service sector slowed, as the ISM’s service sector index fell to 52.4 in March from February’s 54.3 reading. The index also fell short of the 54.7 reading analysts had predicted. For the week ending April 5, interest rates on 30-year mortgages nudged up, but still hovered close to their low for the year.

Consumer spending rose 0.6% in February, the best showing since a 0.7% jump in December, the Commerce Department reported March 30. The gain was double what analysts had expected, which should help alleviate recession fears fueled by a slump in housing and the domestic auto industry.

Personal income also was up 0.6% in February, which followed a 1% surge in January. Even with the rise in income, the savings rate remained at a negative 1.2% in February, the 23rd consecutive month the savings rate has been in negative territory.

Sales of new homes dropped 3.9% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 848,000 units, the slowest pace in nearly seven years, the Commerce Department said March 26. Meanwhile, the median price of a new home fell to $250,000 in February, down 0.3% from a year ago.

Orders to factories for durable goods — big-ticket items expected to last three or more years — increased 2.5% in February. Even with the rebound from January’s 9.3% drop, the gain was smaller than the 3.5% gain expected by Wall Street.

On March 30, oil prices reached $66.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest level in six months. Concern over rising gasoline prices helped undermine consumer confidence, as the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell from 111.2 in February to 107.2 in March. The March index was the lowest since November when the reading was 105.3.