News

U.S. factory orders bounced back with a 1.8% gain in June after May’s decline. The gain came despite lagging exports due to the strong dollar, but analysts said substantial improvement remains elusive. Nonetheless, June’s report adds to data pointing to […]

Americans’ median debt load is $67,900, and mortgages are a major contributor to that figure, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts report. Millennials, however, are more likely to have student loan debt and car loans than they are to have […]

Wages and benefits paid by U.S. employers this spring rose at the slowest pace since the second quarter of 1982, the Labor Department said. The employment cost index, which tracks salaries, wages and benefits, gained 0.2% in Q2, compared with […]

The federal highway funding extension bill passed by Congress contains several tax provisions, including changing the due dates for partnership and corporate tax returns, a provision the AICPA has long advocated. Other changes affect mortgage interest statements, basis of inherited […]

Economic uncertainty underscores a need to raise the U.S. debt limit, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew says in a letter to Congress. The government can probably meet financial obligations until Oct. 30 by continuing “extraordinary measures” implemented in March, Lew says.

Limited domestic demand in countries with large current-account surpluses such as Germany and China is an obstacle to global economic growth, according to the International Monetary Fund. The major forces driving global imbalances are China’s current-account surplus and the U.S. […]

Preliminary figures on second-quarter growth in the U.S. are due Thursday and likely to be the decisive indicator of the economy’s direction and a powerful influence on the Federal Reserve’s rate plans, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch […]

Staff reports for the Federal Reserve that were mistakenly posted online last month revealed a somewhat darker assessment of the economy than that expressed by Fed officials. Among other things, the report projected gross domestic product growth dropping well below […]

The number of Americans seeking jobless benefits for the first time hit its lowest level in 42 years last week, the Labor Department said. Initial claims dropped by 26,000, to 255,000. The four-week rolling average fell by 4,000, to 282,500.