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Defying inflation, Americans ramped up spending last month
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many Americans have taken a darker view of the economy as inflation has worsened. Yet so far, they appear no less willing to spend freely at retailers — an encouraging sign for the crucial holiday shopping season. Buoyed by sol...
Heavy burden for consumers as holidays near: Soaring prices
WASHINGTON (AP) — A worsening surge of inflation for such bedrock necessities as food, rent, autos and heating oil is setting Americans up for a financially difficult Thanksgiving and holiday shopping season. Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.2% i...
Latest exit from Fed's board gives Biden three slots to fill
WASHINGTON (AP) — Randal Quarles announced Monday that he will resign from the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors at the end of the year after completing a four-year term as its top bank regulator, opening up another vacancy on the Fed's i...
Fed pulls back economic aid in face of rising uncertainties
WASHINGTON (AP) — If you find the current economy a bit confusing, don't worry: So does the nation's top economic official, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. At a highly anticipated news conference Wednesday, Powell said the Fed was sticking by i...
Fed to start reining in economic aid as inflation risk rises
WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation at its highest point in three decades, the Federal Reserve is set this week to begin winding down the extraordinary stimulus it has given the economy since the pandemic recession struck early last year, a process t...
3 US-based economists win Nobel for research on wages, jobs
STOCKHOLM (AP) — A U.S.-based economist won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for pioneering research that transformed widely held ideas about the labor force, showing how an increase in the minimum wage doesn't hinder hiring and immigrants d...
Delta variant and worker shortage keep a lid on job growth
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added just 194,000 jobs in September, a second straight tepid gain and evidence that the pandemic has kept its grip on the economy, with many companies struggling to fill millions of open jobs. Friday's report from t...
US hiring slows as delta variant weakens travel and tourism
WASHINGTON (AP) — America's employers added just 235,000 jobs in August, a surprisingly weak gain after two months of robust hiring and the clearest sign to date that the delta variant's spread has discouraged some people from flying, shopping and e...
Powell: Fed on track to slow aid for economy later this year
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve will start dialing back its ultra-low-rate policies this year as long as hiring continues to improve, Chair Jerome Powell said Friday, signaling the beginning of the end of the Fed's extraordinary response to t...
A dozen years after last minimum wage hike, is $15 new norm?
WASHINGTON (AP) — The signs and banners are dotted along suburban commercial strips and hanging in shop windows and restaurants, evidence of a new desperation among America's service-industry employers: "Now Hiring, $15 an hour." It is hardly the o...
US consumer prices surge in June by the most since 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices for U.S. consumers jumped in June by the most in 13 years, evidence that a swift rebound in spending has run up against widespread supply shortages that have escalated the costs of many goods and services. Tuesday's report f...
Powell says inflation, though elevated, will likely moderate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested Wednesday that inflation, which has been surging as the recovery strengthens, "will likely remain elevated in coming months" before "moderating." At the same time, Powell signaled no i...
Fed sees earlier time frame for rate hikes with inflation up
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it may act sooner than previously planned to start dialing back the low-interest-rate policies that have helped fuel a swift rebound from the pandemic recession but have also coincided w...
US jobless claims fall again as some states end federal aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans sought unemployment aid last week — the latest encouraging sign for the rebounding U.S. economy — just as Republican-led states are moving to cut off a federal benefit for the jobless. Twenty-two states, from Texas...
Fed keeps key rate near zero, sees inflation as 'transitory'
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is keeping its ultra-low interest rate policies in place, a sign that it wants to see more evidence of a strengthening economic recovery before it would consider easing its support. In a statement Wednesday, t...
Yellen calls for minimum global corporate income tax
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday urged the adoption of a minimum global corporate income tax, an effort to at least partially offset any disadvantages that might arise from the Biden administration's proposed i...
Yellen sees room for US to borrow, opens door to tax hike
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen believes the U.S. government has more room to borrow, but said higher taxes would likely be required in the long run to finance future spending increases. Yellen appeared Wednesday before the S...
Jump in hiring fuels optimism for US economic recovery
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. hiring accelerated more quickly than expected last month, evidence that a year after the pandemic took hold, the economy is strengthening as virus cases drop and vaccinations ramp up. A government report Friday showed that e...
Fed's Powell: Recovery incomplete, high inflation unlikely
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell underscored the U.S. economy's ongoing weakness Tuesday in remarks that suggested that the Fed sees no need to alter its ultra-low interest rate policies anytime soon. "The economic recovery r...
Powell stresses commitment to full employment and low rates
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday underscored the Fed's commitment to reducing unemployment to multi-decade lows, where it stood before the pandemic, while signaling little concern about the risk of potentially h...
Fed keeps rate near zero but sees brighter economy in 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it will keep buying government bonds until the economy makes "substantial" progress — a step intended to reassure financial markets and keep long-term borrowing rates low indefinitely. The...
Retailers brace as virus bears down on consumers and economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — LaTonya Story is every retailer's worst fear. With the viral pandemic re-surging through the country and the economy under threat, Story has decided to slash her holiday shopping budget. She'll spend less than $2,000 this season, d...
Mnuchin denies trying to hinder incoming administration
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied that he is attempting to limit the choices President-elect Joe Biden will have to promote an economic recovery by ending several emergency loan programs being run by the Federal Reserve. M...
Unemployment drops to 6.9% and US adds a solid 638,000 jobs
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. job market showed a burst of strength in October, with employers adding 638,000 jobs and the unemployment rate tumbling to 6.9%. Still, the pace of hiring isn't enough to rapidly soak up the millions of Americans who w...
Blowout US economic growth in summer is already fading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans may feel whiplashed by a report Thursday on the economy's growth this summer, when an explosive rebound followed an epic collapse. The government will likely estimate that the economy grew faster on an annualized basis las...
