AP - Construction spending climbed to an all-time high in December, helping to push building for all of 2005 to a record as well.

Reuters - New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly to 273,000 last week, pushing a four-week average of claims to the lowest level in nearly six years, a government report showed on Thursday.

FT.com - The US economy created 193,000 jobs in January, slightly less than expected but enough to send the unemployment rate down even closer to historic lows.

Reuters - Foreign exchange, including the Chinese yuan currency, is unlikely to be on the agenda for a meeting of Group of Eight finance ministers later this week, a senior Japanese Finance Ministry official said on Monday.

AP - The Indian economy will expand 8.1 percent during the current fiscal year because of robust growth in the manufacturing and services industries, a new government estimate said Tuesday.

AP - German exports rose in December for the first time in three months, lifting overall annual foreign sales to a new record, the Federal Statistics Office said Wednesday.

AP - Economic research institute DIW said Thursday that growth in Germany will likely slow during the first quarter because of cold weather halting some construction.

AP - France's economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter of 2005 after a dynamic third quarter, according to a flash estimate by national statistics institute Insee.

Reuters - The U.S. labor market may be facing supply constraints that could make efforts to boost job growth with easy monetary policy backfire, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Sandra Pianalto said on Monday.

Reuters - China responded on Tuesday to U.S. demands for a stronger yuan to reduce its trade surplus by saying market forces were already driving the currency and warning Washington not to make political capital out of the issue.

Reuters - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the U.S. economy was running so close to capacity that it faced heightened risks of an outbreak in inflation that could require higher interest rates to tame.

Reuters - The number of Americans filing initial claims for unemployment benefits rose an unexpectedly large 19,000 last week but held below the 300,000 level for a fifth straight week for the first time in over five years, signaling a strong job market.

Reuters - Japanese labor unions, armed with new evidence of a long-awaited economic recovery, are seeking wage hikes in their annual 'spring offensive' talks that began this week, after years of effectively frozen pay rates.

Reuters - New U.S. central bank chief Ben Bernanke last week used his first congressional appearance to pledge continuity with the Greenspan Fed, but broke with his famous predecessor by refusing to offer fiscal policy advice.

Reuters - Hong Kong's economy might have grown by an estimated 7 percent last year and outshone many others in the region, but for insurance agent Ngai Wai-wang, that is immaterial.

AP - The European Commission issued an optimistic outlook for the EU economy Tuesday, saying it expects growth for the 25-nation bloc at 2.2 percent in 2006 and at 1.9 percent for the 12 nations that have the euro as their currency.

Reuters - U.S. weekly chain store sales rose in mid-February compared with a year earlier, a report said on Tuesday.

AP - The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped by a larger-than-expected amount last week, indicating the nation's labor market remains strong.

AP - Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell by the largest amount in 5 1/2 years in January as demand for commercial aircraft suffered the biggest setback in seven years, the government reported Friday.

AFP - The US economy is set for a strong rebound in the first quarter of 2006, shaking off the hurricane-related weakness of the fourth quarter, a survey of business economists showed.

AP - Sales of existing homes fell for a fifth consecutive month in January as the once-sizzling housing market cooled further.