America In Focus: March home sales drop, unemployment claims fall, wholesale prices surge

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In the past week, many Americans were keeping a closer eye than ever before on the economy, inflation and how those issues and others will potentially impact their daily lives. Concerns range from rising grocery and gas prices to escalating housing costs and corporate layoffs.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the latest economic data and what it potentially means for you.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in March to their slowest pace in nine months, as easing mortgage rates failed to motivate home shoppers during what’s traditionally been the busiest time of the year for the housing market.

Existing home sales fell 3.6% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

“Lower consumer confidence and softer job growth continue to hold back buyers,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement.

U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, remaining in the range of the past few years even as the war in Iran continues to threaten the global economy.

The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending April 11 fell by 11,000 to 207,000 from the previous week’s 218,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s less than the 217,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting but within the range of the past several years.

Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

U.S. wholesale prices surged last month as the Iran war drove up the cost of energy.

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose 0.5% from February and 4% from a year earlier. The year-over-year gains was the biggest in more than three years. Energy prices surged 8.5% from February.

Food prices fell by 0.3% in March after surging by 2.4% in the previous month.