Economy

U.S. consumer spending appeared to slow in August as extended unemployment benefits were cut for millions of Americans, offering more evidence that the economic recovery from the Covid-19 recession was faltering. Core retail sales, which correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, fell 0.1% last month after a downwardly revised

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a press conference following the January 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, in Washington, DC on January 29, 2020. Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images While committed to keeping interest rates low for the next several years, the Federal Reserve still has plenty of work to

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell during a speech on March 3, 2020 in Washington, DC. Mark Makela/Getty Images In the first CNBC Fed Survey since the Federal Reserve announced its new, more dovish monetary policy strategy, respondents now forecast no rate hikes from the central bank until 2023. The results are a potential first

Weekly jobless claims were worse than expected last week amid a plodding climb for the U.S. labor market from the damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor Department on Thursday reported 884,000 first-time filings for unemployment insurance, compared with 850,000 expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The total was unchanged from the previous

A person wears a protective face mask while carrying grocery bags outside Trader Joe’s on August 11, 2020 in New York City. Noam Galai | Getty Images Goldman Sachs economists said they see third quarter GDP growth tracking at 35%, driven in large part by the surprising strength of consumer spending. Goldman said its tracking

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said his biggest economic concerns in the U.S. are inflation and the budget deficit. “My overall view is that the inflation outlook is unfortunately negative and that’s essentially the result of entitlements crowding out private investment and productivity growth,” Greenspan said in an interview Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk on

Joel Porro and Lizz Hernandez wear gloves and protective masks as they put bags in the trunk of their car after shopping at Walmart Supercenter as the coronavirus pandemic continues, March 5, 2020 in Miami. David Santiago | Miami Herald | Tribune News Service via Getty Images U.S. consumer prices increased solidly in August, but

A worker assembles footballs at the Wilson Sporting Goods facility in Ada, Ohio, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2020. Maddie McGarvey | Bloomberg | Getty Images U.S. producer prices rose a bit more than expected in August as the cost of services increased solidly, while underlying producer inflation continued to firm. The producer price index for

People wait in their cars as they line up to collect unemployment forms in Hialeah, Florida. CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images The official unemployment rate fell to 8.4% in August as businesses continued emerging from broad shutdowns imposed early in the coronavirus pandemic, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. That’s the lowest rate since

Job openings rose 10% in July to a pandemic high even though the rate of hiring saw a sharp slump, according to a Labor Department report Wednesday. The total for available positions hit 6.6 million for the month, above the 6 million expected from economists surveyed by FactSet. The estimate effectively would have been no

People walk by a store going out of business along 125th street in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, August 7, 2020. Shannon Stapleton | Reuters The story for much of the past generation has been a familiar one for the U.S. economy, where the benefits of expansion flow mostly to the top and

Philadelphian’s rallied at City Hall to demand Congress return and come to a deal on unemployment in Philadelphia, PA, on August 20, 2020. NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images Private data sources that have tracked the unemployment recovery showed that job growth was tepid in August after political leaders in Washington failed to reach an

The federal budget deficit is projected to hit a record $3.3 trillion as huge government expenditures to fight the coronavirus and to prop up the economy have added more than $2 trillion to the federal ledger, the Congressional Budget Office said. The spike in the deficit means that federal debt will exceed annual gross domestic

A woman takes photos of the container ship Ever Legacy being offloaded after arriving from Taipei at the Port of Los Angeles, which is the nation’s busiest container port, on March 6, 2020 in Terminal Island, California. Mario Tama | Getty Images The U.S. trade deficit surged to its highest level since 2008 in July

U.S. productivity rose at a 10.1% rate in the second quarter as the number of hours worked declined by the largest amount since the government started compiling the data more than 70 years ago. The Labor Department said Thursday that hours worked fell by 42.9%, contributing to a 37.1% decline in output as the coronavirus

New filings for jobless claims totaled 881,000 last week, better than estimates as the employment market continued its gradual progress during the coronavirus pandemic recovery. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a total of 950,000. The number reflects an improving labor market as well as a change in methodology from the Labor

With seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims totaling 881,000 last week, millions of Americans are still in need of financial assistance from the federal government. Congressional Democrats and the Trump administration are deadlocked, leaving Americans unsure if more help will arrive soon. Less than a month ago, President Donald Trump tried to do it on his own

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 1.37 million in August and the unemployment rate tumbled to 8.4% as the U.S. economy continued to climb its way out of the pandemic downturn. The unemployment rate was by far the lowest since the coronavirus shutdown in March, according to Labor Department figures released Friday. An alternative measure that includes