Economy

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FOMC Ends Asset Buying, Continues Near-Zero Interest Rate

Posted: October 29, 2014 at 2:37 pm

The Federal Reserve released the minutes of the September meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday afternoon. The big news is that the FOMC voted to end ...
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Why Consumer Confidence Rebounded in October

Posted: October 28, 2014 at 10:30 am

The Conference Board released some good news Tuesday morning for October’s consumer confidence, unlike the durable goods report earlier in the morning. The Consumer Confidence Index had dropped in September, ...
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Durable Goods Orders Fall Again in September

Posted: October 28, 2014 at 9:10 am

The U.S. Department of Commerce released the durable goods report for the month of September on Tuesday morning. New orders for manufactured durable goods in September fell 1.3% to $241.6 ...
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Iceland

Iceland Ranks First on Gender Gap

Posted: October 28, 2014 at 6:43 am

Men, particularly in the United States, have significant advantages over women, at least in terms of their earning power. The World Economic Forum's researchers actually claim the situation is worse ...
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Texas Capitol

Texas Manufacturing Remains Strong Despite Oil Going to $80

Posted: October 27, 2014 at 11:25 am

Manufacturing activity in Texas is holding up better than many business watchers may have feared with lower and lower oil prices. The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey is rarely a market mover, ...
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Map of United States

Federal Reserve Showing Better Economic Picture at National Level

Posted: October 23, 2014 at 9:30 am

The Chicago Federal Reserve's National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to +0.47 in September from –0.25 in August. Three of the four economic categories made positive contributions to the index in ...
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Weekly Jobless Claims Post Larger-Than-Expected Rise

Posted: October 23, 2014 at 8:50 am

The U.S. Department of Labor has released its latest installment of weekly jobless claims. The report came in at 283,000. Bloomberg was calling for 285,000. The prior week's reading was ...
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Very Differing Views on 2014 Holiday Retail Sales Growth Expectations

Posted: October 22, 2014 at 12:25 pm

We have seen swings in consumer sentiment and we have seen swings in economic reports while the rest of the world has been seeing a slowdown. Now the big question ...
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September CPI Avoids Deflation Fears

Posted: October 22, 2014 at 9:15 am

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Wednesday morning before the market opened. The CPI increased 0.1% in September, above the 0.0% expected by Bloomberg. ...
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jobs

31% of Americans Believe It’s a Good Time to Find Job

Posted: October 22, 2014 at 6:32 am

Gallup reports that optimism about finding a job has jumped to a level rarely seen since the Great Recession. Improvement in gross domestic product, consumer sentiment and a drop in ...
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Smokestacks

Another Sign Companies Expect Economic Slowdown

Posted: October 20, 2014 at 6:28 am

A carefully followed report from the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) was released for the current period, and the results were not good. The October 2014 NABE Business Conditions ...
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Consumer Sentiment Soars to 7-Year High

Posted: October 17, 2014 at 10:40 am

The preliminary October reading on the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 86.4, a level not seen since July of 2007. A survey of economists by Bloomberg ...
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Philly Fed Positive on Manufacturing

Posted: October 16, 2014 at 10:50 am

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released its Business Outlook Survey for the month of October. The report suggested continued expansion of the region’s manufacturing sector. Firms reported continued ...
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U.S. Industrial Production Bounces Higher

Posted: October 16, 2014 at 9:55 am

The Federal Reserve reported Wednesday morning that U.S. industrial production rose 1% month-over-month in September following a drop of 0.2% in August. The total index rose to 105.1, up from ...
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Weekly Jobless Claims Buck Weak Economic Trends

Posted: October 16, 2014 at 9:00 am

The U.S. Labor Department has reported its weekly jobless claims for the last week, and it was a surprisingly good economic report. Despite weaker data elsewhere in rival economic reports, ...
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