U.S. builders broke ground on far fewer homes in April, one month after topping the 1 million mark for the first time since 2008. But applications for new construction reached a five-year peak, evidence that the housing revival will be sustained.
Americans increased their spending in April at retail businesses, buying more cars and clothes after cutting purchases sharply in March. The rebound suggests consumers may help boost growth again in the April-June quarter.
President Obama nominated longtime fundraiser and hotel heiress Penny Pritzker Thursday to run the Commerce Department, gambling that her role in a failed bank and opposition from labor groups won't derail her Senate confirmation.
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March for a second month as the daily flow of imported crude oil dropped to the lowest level in 17 years. The deficit with China hit a three-year low.
Barack Obama has been president for 51 months, and America is still waiting for that change he told us to hope for. The latest economic indicators continue to point in the wrong direction: Durable-goods orders are falling, growth in factory output is sluggish and optimism is dissolving.
U.S. economic growth accelerated from January through March, buoyed by the strongest consumer spending in more than two years. The strength offset further declines in government spending that are expected to drag on growth throughout the year.
Economic growth accelerated from near zero to a 2.5 percent rate in the winter quarter as consumers went on a spending spree, the Commerce Department reported Friday morning.
When people look to government for answers in times of crisis, the politicians are happy to oblige, usually with wrong answers. The terrorist attack in Boston has everybody on edge, fearing further assaults - perhaps even to America's online infrastructure.
U.S. homebuilders broke the 1 million mark in March for the first time since June 2008. The gain signals continued strength for the housing recovery at the start of the spring buying season.
