PR Newswire (03/23/15)

WilsonHCG, a global recruitment process outsourcing and human capital consulting firm, has acquired Sumner Grace, a U.S.-based global talent acquisition, talent management, and workforce planning consulting firm. Areas of particular focus include talent strategy and design, technology assessment and vendor implementation, and human resource transformation.

Wall Street Journal (03/25/15) Kate Davidson; Josh Mitchell

Orders for durable goods fell a seasonally adjusted 1.4% from January to February, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, a sign many U.S. companies remain wary of spending amid tepid global demand. Excluding the transportation category, orders dropped 0.4%, the fifth consecutive monthly decline. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had forecast overall orders would rise 0.2%.

Durable goods’ numbers are volatile and subject to large revisions, but the broader trend hints at softening demand. So far this year, overall orders have fallen 0.5% compared with the same period a year ago. Orders for January were weaker than earlier reported. Orders increased 2.0% instead of 2.8%, and orders outside of transportation that month fell instead of slightly increasing as first reported.

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (03/24/15)

Manufacturing activity declined in March, according to the most recent survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite index fell to -8 in March from a reading of 0 in February. Shipments and the volume of new orders also fell. Hiring in the manufacturing sector was soft but inched up two points from February to finish at a reading of 6. The average work week shortened, although by less than in February; the index settled at -4 compared with last month’s -6.

Producers plan significant hiring in the next six months. The expectations index for the number of employees rose to 23, compared with last month’s reading of 12.

Business Wire (03/24/15)

The current U.S. economic expansion is expected to be one of the longest in history, according to Moody’s Analytics. Household debt is down nearly 10% from during the recession, and jobs and wages are continuing to recover.

“Expansions generally end when an economy overheats and exposes overextended households, businesses, and financial institutions,” says Mark Zandi, managing director and chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “This usually happens when the labor market is at full employment, businesses are operating beyond capacity, inflation pressures develop, and interest rates surge. The expansion we’re experiencing now is far from any of this.”