The humbled housing sector took a modest step forward last month as starts rose a better-than-predicted 3.9% to a 530,000-unit annual rate. Still, at the current pace, the nation is 18 to 24 months from seeing normal levels of …
The slowly improving tone to the U.S. job market continued with last week’s numbers for new unemployment claims. The less volatile four-week moving average also dropped again, to 422,750. That’s its lowest level since August 20…
Initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell last week.
Claims fell 3,000 to 420,000 in the week ending Dec. 11, the Department of Labor said. The revised figure for the previous week was 423,000.
A survey of economists by The Wall Street Journal pre…
For the 22nd-straight month, the central bank kept its target interest rate at 0% to 0.25%. It made no new asset purchases and no changes to QE2, its $600 billion, eight-month bond-buying program. Housing and hiring are two mai…
The biggest question many investors have about President Obama’s compromise tax cut deal is how it will benefit the economy. But so far, there is little agreement on Wall Street about what the stimulative effects of the deal wi…