First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell 8,000 to 363,000 for the week ending November 3, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected 370,000 initial claim filings. It was the third straight weekly decline and the fifth drop in the last seven weeks.

The nation’s unemployment rate inched up to 7.9 percent in October as the economy added 171,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday. The labor force--the sum of employed and unemployed--improved in October, causing the bump in the unemployment rate and signaling renewed confidence among those on the sidelines that jobs are available. Job creation for the two prior months was revised upward: 148,000 in September instead of the originally reported 114,000 and 192,000 instead of the 142,000 reported in August.

First time claims for unemployment insurance fell 9,000 to 363,000 for the week ended October 27, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected 369,000 initial claims. It was the second straight weekly decline and the fourth drop in the last six weeks.

The number of households owning homes rose to 75,076,000 in the third quarter from 74,832,000 in the second, but down from 75,251,000 a year ago, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. At the same time, the nation's homeownership rate (seasonally adjusted) remained at 65.5 percent. The homeownership rate stayed near historic lows. The rate in the first quarter was 65.4 percent, the lowest since the first quarter of 1997.

U.S. home prices continued to increase in August as the Case Shiller 20-city Home Price Index increased 0.9 percent to its highest level since September 2010. The 20-city index is up 2.0 percent in the last year. The 10-city also rose 0.9 percent in August, increasing to 158.62, 1.3 percent ahead of August 2011 and the highest level since October 2010. The monthly gain in each index was slower than in July, when the 10-city index went up 1.5 percent and the 20-city index improved 1.6 percent. July also saw gains in all 20 index cities.

Consumer spending rose $87.9 billion, 0.8 percent, in September, twice the 0.4 percent growth in personal income, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Monday. While the increase in income matched economist expectations, the increase in spending was higher than the forecast. It was the third straight month spending grew faster than income.

Led by increases in personal consumption, government spending and residential investment, the U.S. economy grew 2.0 percent in the third quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday, faster than economists expected and a strong rebound from the 1.3 percent growth rate in the second quarter. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected an increase of 1.9 percent.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) rose ever so slightly in September, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday, tempering the much-heralded housing sector revival. The index inched up to 99.5, an improvement of 0.3 percentage points over August's 99.2. Economists had expected the index to jump 2.5 percent to 101.7. The NAR noted though the PHSI was up 14.5 percent since September 2011, the 17th straight month of year-over-year increases.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance fell 23,000 to 369,000 for the week ended October 20, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Economists expected initial claims to fall to 372,000. The previous week's report was revised upward to 392,000 first-time claims--the highest level since mid-June--from the originally reported 388,000.

Pointing to slow employment growth and an ""elevated"" unemployment rate, the Federal Open Market Committee said Wednesday the Federal Reserve ""will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month."" At the same time, the FOMC said it would maintain the target federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and said the ""exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate are likely to be warranted at least through mid-2015.""