The International Monetary Fund reported that it expects the economy to grow by a relatively anemic 1.9 percent in 2013. Consumers were feeling a bit more grumpy in June, when the consumer sentiment index dropped to 82.7 from the 84.5 reading at the end of May. And industrial production was unchanged in May, after a decrease of 0.4 percent in April.

Retail and food service sales were up 0.6 percent compared with April and 4.3 percent year over year. And unemployment claims decreased by 12,000 for the week ending June 8 compared with the previous week’s, the lowest in almost five years.

There were 3.75 million job openings on the last business day of April, a bit down from the end of March, when the total was 3.87 million. Small-business owner confidence, on the other hand, edged up.

Since low inflation has been a surprise, the central bank can continue with QE3. The number of existing residential properties trading hands in the Las Vegas market in May was 3,884, up from 3,789 in April. And Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services upgraded its outlook for the U.S. sovereign debt, raising its outlook from “negative” to “stable,” meaning that the rating agency is less likely to downgrade U.S. debt in the near future.

The creation of 175,000 jobs in May by the U.S. economy was taken as good news mainly because economists, pundits and investors were expecting a mediocre or worse report. And total U.S. rail traffic increased during May.