Economy

A month after reporting the first loss since April, the employment picture bounced back in January as companies added 174,000 new jobs, according to a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP. The gain beat the 50,000 estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones and improved on the 78,000 December decline, a number that was

A house for sale on December 17, 2020 in Scituate, Massachusetts. Matt Stone | MediaNews Group | Getty Images Mortgage rates fell for the first time in nearly a month, and that lit a fire under current borrowers who may have thought they missed the boat on refinancing their loans. Applications to refinance jumped 11%

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan in a CNBC interview Tuesday backed more spending across a variety of fronts as the economy tries to shake off the Covid-19 pandemic effects. President Joe Biden has proposed spending $1.9 trillion to provide more cash payouts and enhanced unemployment benefits to Americans, as well as a minimum wage

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said Monday that he’s not worried about the U.S. economy overheating, though he does think growth could happen faster than many expect. In an estimate well ahead of most of his colleagues, Bostic, a voting member of the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee, recently drew attention for saying that

A worker uses a hoist to assemble a car seat at the Lear Corp. manufacturing facility in Hammond, Indiana. Jim Young | Bloomberg | Getty Images U.S. economic growth will recover “rapidly” and the labor market will return to full strength quicker than expected thanks to the vaccine rollout and a barrage of legislation enacted

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the Senate Banking Committee hearing on “The Quarterly CARES Act Report to Congress” on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 1, 2020. Susan Walsh | Pool | Reuters Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has a few nerves to quell among market participants wondering when the central banks will start

Billionaire restaurateur and casino operator Tilman Fertitta told CNBC on Tuesday he expects strong consumer spending to fuel the U.S. economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. “The consumer is coming back. I’m telling you, where we can do business, we are doing business,” the Landry’s chairman and chief executive said on “Power Lunch.” “This is

This is a comparison of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee statement with the one issued after the Fed’s previous policy-making meeting on Dec. 16. Text removed from the December statement is in red with a horizontal line through the middle. Text appearing for the first time in the new statement is in red and underlined. Black text appears in

A woman walks past a closed retail store for lease in the midtown area of Manhattan on January 25, 2021 in New York City. Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images The number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits for the first time rose less than expected last week as the Biden administration took

After a year in which a pandemic and politics posed challenges unlike the U.S. has seen in generations, the economy closed in fairly good shape. Gross domestic product, or the sum of all goods and services, increased at a 4.0% pace in the fourth quarter, slightly below the 4.3% expectation from economists surveyed by Dow

A house’s real estate for sale sign shows the home as being “Under Contract” in Washington, DC, November 19, 2020. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images Homebuyers signed fewer contracts to buy existing homes in December, as record high prices and record low supply stood in the way of strong demand. The pending home

A Federal Reserve police officer walks past the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C., U.S. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Federal Reserve kept its foot to the floor Wednesday in terms of the help it is providing for an economy that central bank officials say has slowed down. Consistent

Some market pros see the frenzied short squeezes in Gamestop and other stocks as signs of a bubble brewing, but the Federal Reserve doesn’t seem to and for that reason investors expect asset prices could continue to rise. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, at his post meeting briefing Wednesday, was asked about the potential of Fed

Federal Reserve Jerome Powell testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on “The Quarterly CARES Act Report to Congress” on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2020. Susan Walsh | Reuters Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will try to avoid sounding hawkish in any way when he talks Wednesday afternoon about the Fed’s commitment

A real estate for sale sign shows the home as being “Under Contract” in Washington, DC, November 19, 2020. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images Sharp gains in home prices and a slight rise in interest rates combined to weaken demand for mortgages last week. Total mortgage application volume fell 4.1% from the previous

Real estate broker Rebecca Van Camp places a “Sold” placard on her sign in front of a home in Meridian, Idaho, on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. Darin Oswald | Tribune News Service | Getty Images The strong surge in home prices is not slowing down, thanks to high buyer demand and a record low supply

An ‘Open House’ sign is displayed as potential home buyers arrive at a property for sale in Columbus, Ohio. Ty Wright | Bloomberg | Getty Images Record-low mortgage rates may now be a headline of the past. Now, several weeks of rising rates are dousing what was incredibly high demand for refinancing. That pulled total

A contractor moves roofing material on a home under construction at the Toll Brothers Cantera at Gale Ranch housing development in San Ramon, Calif. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Just two months ago, homebuilders had never been happier. Buyer demand, driven by the pandemic-induced desire for larger newer homes in the suburbs,