Quick Overview

• The number of orders placed with U.S. factories rose 1% to $400.5 billion in June, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
  
  

• Personal spending jumped in June by 0.8% as consumers bought more automobiles.
  

• U.S. personal incomes in June were up 0.5%, better than expected.
  
  

• The fatality rate on the nation’s highways in 2004 was the lowest since record-keeping began 30 years ago, and while passenger vehicle deaths dropped, fatalities from large truck crashes increased slightly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday.
  
  

• June's unemployment rate remained at 8.7% in the Euro zone and at 8.8% in the EU-25.
  

• Retail sales in Australia were up 1.3% in June, stronger than expected – the biggest increase in two years.