NEW RELEASE : Mississippi Banking Industry

Perspectives and Challenges April-2012

  • MS Initial Unemployment Claims MS Initial Unemployment Claims
  • MS Income Tax Withholdings MS Income Tax Withholdings
  • ISM Index of U.S. Manufacturing Activity ISM Index of U.S. Manufacturing Activity
  • MS Value of Residential Building Permits MS Value of Residential Building Permits
  • ISM Index of U.S. Manufacturing Activity ISM Index of U.S. Manufacturing Activity
  • ISM Index of U.S. Manufacturing Activity ISM Index of U.S. Manufacturing Activity
  • According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, Mississippi unemployment rate stands at 9.5% at the end of January 2012 According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, Mississippi unemployment rate stands at 9.5% at the end of January 2012

Feature Topics

The banking industry in Mississippi has been burdened by increased Federal regulation which has increased pressure on bank profitability. Laws enacted to protect the most financially-vulnerable individuals have, in some instances, prevented banks from offering those individuals the services they need. Banks, meanwhile, are investing more money and manpower into maintaining compliance with burgeoning regulations, an especially difficult task for small community banks being held to the same universal standards as much larger banking entities. Loans are more costly to underwrite, and deposits are earning close to 0% interest. Earnings are harder to produce as investments generate extremely low returns. Demand for credit and credit quality appear to be improving, trends seen as positive by the state’s bankers.

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Readers Comments

As usual, this is an outstanding edition of "Economy Watch." Keep up the good work. This is a valuable publication for the business, government, and non-profit sectors

Lewis Whitfield
CREATE Foundation
January 10, 2012


Economic Indicators

April 23-27, 2012

Sales of new single-family homes in March 2012 were 328,000 at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, down 7.1 percent from February’s revised rate but up 7.5 percent from March 2011.

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New orders for manufactured durable goods in March 2012 decreased 4.2 percent, to $202.6 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders fell 1.1 percent.

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Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2012, according to today’s advance estimate.

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Personal income in March 2012 rose 0.4 percent. Nominal personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased 0.3 percent and real PCE rose 0.1 percent.

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Tax Corners

On April 19 the full House passed a bill that would allow businesses with less than 500 employees a deduction of 20 percent on income attributable to domestic sources.

The IRS has issued final regulations (T.D. 9585) relating to the characterization of gain recognized with respect to stock in certain foreign corporations upon distributions.

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Market Snapshots

Currencies US $
Euro 1.31510
Pound 1.61943
Yen 0.01247
Yuan 0.15880
Canada $ 1.01522
Hong Kong $ 0.12888
Gold 1,649.00
Stock Market
Dow 13,268.60
NASDAQ 3.059.85
S&P 1,402.31
Lending Rates
Fed Funds 0.15
3 Month Libor 0.47
Prime 3.25
U.S. Treasury Rates
3 Month 0.08
2 Year 0.26
5 Year 0.82
10 Year 1.93