News

The net worth of U.S. households and nonprofit groups increased $1.6 trillion in the first quarter, reaching a record $84.9 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. The value of households’ stocks and mutual funds climbed $487 billion, while the value […]

The U.S. budget deficit tightened in May, with the government posting an $82 billion deficit, down 37% year-over-year, the Treasury Department says. The deficit has been narrowing for the past 12 months.

Workload compression during consecutive challenging tax seasons has helped contribute to a growing talent shortage for accounting firms seeking qualified staff, according to the biennial PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues survey. Finding and retaining staff ranked as top issues in […]

Two separate surveys underscore dimming expectations of U.S. growth this year. The Business Roundtable’s second-quarter survey says CEOs expect 2.5% expansion in gross domestic product, down from 2.8% in the previous survey. Separately, the National Association for Business Economists has […]

The U.S. housing market might be drifting toward another crisis as more people lack income or savings to buy. The rate of homeownership is lower than the level 20 years ago, and the Urban Institute predicts the rate will keep […]

The U.S. economy added 280,000 jobs to nonfarm payrolls in May, according to the Labor Department. It was the largest increase since December and exceeded the 225,000-job uptick that economists polled by Reuters had expected. The unemployment rate climbed to […]

Finance executives in business and industry have slightly cooler outlooks about their own companies, expansion plans and revenue projections, but overall optimism remains relatively high. An AICPA survey shows a sharp quarterly drop in domestic optimism and smaller drops in […]

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has trimmed its U.S. growth forecast to 2% for 2015, down from 3.1% it predicted in March, after a weak first quarter. The OECD expects gross domestic product to climb 1.9% in its […]

Consumer spending in the U.S. stopped growing in April as households put more money into savings and less into buying cars, suggesting that the economic recovery is faltering. Analysts expected spending to edge up 0.2%.