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A combination of increased output and reduced employment sent the productivity of U.S. workers and businesses, as reported by the Labor Department Thursday, up 5.2% in the fourth quarter of 2001, revised from a previously reported 3.5% figure..

The number of orders received by U.S. factories rose 1.6% in January, a government report released Wednesday said.

A measure of the U.S. services sector jumped sharply in February, recovering from a slight dip in the previous month, a leading economic research group said Tuesday..

Failing to match 2001’s record performance, sales of new homes plummeted 14.8% in January compared with December, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. It was the biggest single-month decline in eight years.

Orders for durable goods increased 2.6% in January, the Commerce Department reported – marking the second monthly increase in a row and suggesting that the manufacturing sector may be pulling out of its nearly 18-month slum.

The sale of previously owned houses skyrocketed 16.2% in January, its third straight increase, an industry report said Monday.

The National Association for Business Economics and a separate survey of economists by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia both said Friday they were leaning toward declaring an end to the U.S. recession, or at least that it will soon be ending.

Manufacturing in the Philadelphia area picked up for the second straight month, marking the first back-to-back increases since September 2000, the regional Federal Reserve bank there reported Thursday.

Adding to mounting evidence that the recession is ending, the U.S. index of leading economic indicators rose in January for the fourth consecutive month, while first-time unemployment claims last week rose slightly.

The number of new homes being built in the United States exceeded analysts’ expectations in January, jumping 6.3% to an annual rate of 1.678 million, the Department of Commerce reported Tuesday.