Consumer sentiment measure falls to pandemic-era low, sees one of largest drops on record
A key consumer sentiment reading saw a dramatic drop in early August as the delta variant of Covid-19 increased fears about the path of the economy, the University of Michigan said Friday. The consumer sentiment index tumbled to 70.2 in...
IRS, Treasury send $15 billion in child tax credit payments to families
Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty Images More households got a monthly payment of the child tax credit in August, reaching an additional 1.6 million kids relative to July, the Treasury Department and IRS said Friday. The IRS disbursed $15...
Covid vaccine mandates in job listings jump by 34% as delta variant sparks surge in virus cases
OLIVIER DOULIERY | AFP | Getty Images Job postings requiring a Covid-19 vaccine have jumped sharply in the past month among a wide range of businesses, according to a new analysis published Thursday by job site Indeed. The increase comes...
Stock futures inch higher after S&P 500 closes at a record, Disney shares jump
Trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Source: NYSE Stock futures inched higher on Friday as the S&P 500 seeks to end a winning week on a high note. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose...
Labor Department pumps $240 million into unemployment system to fight ‘terrifying’ fraud
Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images It’s unclear exactly how much money has been lost to theft. The Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General estimates about $87 billion in benefits may ultimately be paid improperly, a significant portion due to fraud,...
U.S. jobless claims total 375,000, falling for a third straight week
Initial jobless claims declined for the third consecutive week as the U.S. labor market continued its recovery from last year’s recession. New claims for jobless benefits totaled 375,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, matching estimates from economists surveyed...
China’s tech giants generate billions for investors — but small businesses are being squeezed
Delivery workers wait for the light to turn green at a major intersection in Beijing on July 30, 2021. Evelyn Cheng | CNBC BEIJING — Investors in Chinese companies were caught off guard this summer by Beijing’s actions against homegrown...
July consumer prices jump 5.4%, but core inflation rises less than expected
Prices that Americans pay for everyday goods and services rose in July as pent-up demand for travel and restaurants kept inflation hot, but jumped about as much as economists had expected. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its consumer price...
Fed should announce bond taper in September, begin it in October, says Dallas Fed President Kaplan
Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said Wednesday that the central bank should begin to taper its monthly purchases of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities in October. His view that the central bank ought to begin cutting back in two...
White House to call on OPEC to boost oil production as gasoline prices rise
The White House will call on OPEC and its oil-producing allies to boost production in an effort to combat climbing gasoline prices, amid concerns that rising inflation could derail the economic recovery from Covid. Biden administration officials spoke with representatives...