Note: The number of filings is volatile month to month – and August is frequently a bit lower than July. From the American Bankruptcy Institute: August Consumer Bankruptcy Filings fall 8 Percent this Month The 127,028 consumer bankruptcies filed in August represented a 8 percent decrease nationwide over the 137,698…

Based on an estimate from Autodata Corp, light vehicle sales were at a 11.47 million SAAR in August. That is down 18.9% from August 2009 (cash-for-clunkers), and down 0.5% from the July sales rate. Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows the historical light vehicle…

ADP reports : Private sector employment decreased by 10,000 from July to August on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report® released today. The estimated change of employment from June to July was revised down slightly, from the previously reported increase of 42,000 to an…

From the American Bankruptcy Institute: July Consumer Bankruptcy Filings up 9 Percent from last Month, Year The 137,698 consumer bankruptcies filed in July represented a 9 percent increase nationwide over the 126,434 filings recorded in July 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), relying on data from the National…

UPDATE at 5:25 PM ET, 8/3/2010: AutoData revised their estimate to 11.98 million SAAR. Based on an estimate from Autodata Corp, light vehicle sales were at a 12.06 million SAAR in July. That is up 7.5% from July 2009, and up 9.1% from the June sales rate. IMPORTANT: AutoData notes:…

From Catherine Curan writing at the NY Post: Liening on banks Underwater homeowners are jumping onto an unexpected financial life raft that lets them escape crippling second mortgage debts and keep their homes — Chapter 13 bankruptcy. … How it works is this: If the home is appraised at less…

CR Note: This series is from reader “some investor guy”. Previous posts: Part 1: How Large is the Outstanding Value of Sovereign Bonds? Part 2. How Often Have Sovereign Countries Defaulted in the Past? Part 2B: More on Historic Sovereign Default Research There are a number of ways of…

From the American Bankruptcy Institute: Consumer Bankruptcy Filings up 14 percent through First Half of 2010 U.S. consumer bankruptcy filings totaled 770,117 nationwide during the first six months of 2010 (Jan. 1-June 30), a 14 percent increase over the 675,351 total consumer filings during the same period a year ago,…

This post is a little more technical … Temporary Help From the BLS report : Within professional and business services, employment continued to increase in temporary help services (+21,000). Employment in temporary help has risen by 379,000 since a recent low in September 2009. The following graph was used early…

From Mary Ellen Podmolik at the Chicago Tribune: Moral bankruptcy? [Filing bankruptcy] may seem an extreme riff on the difficult decisions homeowners make to unburden themselves of debt owed on properties that have lost substantial value. Lawyers and housing counselors say, however, that personal bankruptcy filings are becoming more commonplace…