Iowa Street property sells

W. Mark Hyde II, Equity Commercial Realty, LLC, was the selling associate and Brad Worster, CCIM, JR Fulton and Associates was the listing associate on a transaction at 516 Iowa St.

Mark and Teri Wesley were the sellers and Chad and Helen Bartlett was the buyer. The commercial building was purchased for $154,000. The property will be used for a daycare. Betty Cummins of First American Title and Trust Services closed the transaction.

Classen, Constitution site sells

A 1.73 acre tract at Classen Boulevard and Constitution Avenue was recently sold for $1,055,000.

BES Investments LLC, was the seller and Family Video Movie Club Inc., was the buyer. The parcel was purchased for investment purposes.

Eric C. Fleske, Equity Commercial Realty LLC, was the listing broker and Dan Gitre, Waterland Properties L.P., was the selling broker.

Manufacturing report shows continuing contraction in April

NEW YORK -- U.S. manufacturing activity contracted in April at the same pace as in the previous month, stalled near its lowest level in five years, a private trade group said Thursday.

The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing executives, said it manufacturing gauge was steady at 48.6 last month, unchanged from March.

But it beat economists' expectations for a reading of 48, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR.

A reading above 50 shows the economy is growing, while a reading below 50 signals contraction.

"The economy seems to be muddling through," said David Resler, chief economist for Nomura Securities. The narrow range the manufacturing index has stayed in over the past five months is a good sign, he said.