US gained 215,000 jobs last month
US employers added 215,000 jobs in March, according to data from the Labor Department. The unemployment rate reached 5%, up slightly from 4.9% in February, as more Americans started looking for work. Read more
Households deal with higher expenditures and lower income, report finds
Household spending in the US recovered after the recession, but wages did not, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts report that focused on the period between 1996 and 2014. In 2014, median income before taxes was down 13% from 10 years earlier, the report found. Read more
Yellen: Fed should “proceed cautiously” with rate hikes
Janet Yellen, head of the Federal Reserve, has told the Economic Club of New York that the central bank's policy committee should "proceed cautiously" when considering an adjustment to interest rates. Bond yields declined and stock prices surged as markets took her comment as a signal that the Fed probably won't raise rates at its next meeting in April. Read more
US consumer spending, inflation data soft
New data throw some cold water on the notion that the US economy began the year strongly, with consumer spending figures revised downward for January, followed by scant improvement in February. Read more
Wait times for calls to IRS have shortened
The Internal Revenue Service answered 73% of calls to its toll-free telephone lines in the first week of this month, up sharply from the same period last year, according to agency records. A cash infusion from Congress helped the IRS speed up wait times, but the agency says it needs more funding to address other problems. Read more
US durable goods orders decline
Orders received by US manufacturers for durable goods fell 2.8% in February, the Commerce Department said. It was the third time in four months that the data have pointed to a slowdown in the economy. Read more
World stocks in bull mode after rough start to year
Twenty-eight of 63 major stock indices globally are registering bull markets, and 10 more may do so soon. However, challenges remain, including lower expectations for corporate earnings, some observers warn. Read more
Treasury, Supreme Court review Puerto Rican debt crisis
All of Puerto Rico's debt, including general obligation bonds, needs restructuring to address the island's financial crisis, which could be detrimental to the municipal bond market if handled incorrectly, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told the House Financial Services Committee. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is considering a local law that would let public utilities in the territory restructure more than $20 billion in debt. Read more
Fed official: Rate boost may be just around the corner
The US economy could allow for the next interest-rate increase to occur as soon as next month, said Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. The economy is strong enough to "justify a further step at one of the coming meetings, possibly as early as the meeting scheduled for end of April," according to the text of a speech by Lockhart. Read more
Fewer borrowers are falling behind on student loan payments
The 31-day delinquency rate for student loan payments to the government was 19.7% as of Dec. 31, down from the previous year's 22.2%, the Education Department says. The decline is attributed to more graduates finding jobs and more former students using income-based repayment plans. Read more