Economy

The federal budget deficit is projected to hit a record $3.3 trillion as huge government expenditures to fight the coronavirus and to prop up the economy have added more than $2 trillion to the federal ledger, the Congressional Budget Office said. The spike in the deficit means that federal debt will exceed annual gross domestic

A woman takes photos of the container ship Ever Legacy being offloaded after arriving from Taipei at the Port of Los Angeles, which is the nation’s busiest container port, on March 6, 2020 in Terminal Island, California. Mario Tama | Getty Images The U.S. trade deficit surged to its highest level since 2008 in July

U.S. productivity rose at a 10.1% rate in the second quarter as the number of hours worked declined by the largest amount since the government started compiling the data more than 70 years ago. The Labor Department said Thursday that hours worked fell by 42.9%, contributing to a 37.1% decline in output as the coronavirus

New filings for jobless claims totaled 881,000 last week, better than estimates as the employment market continued its gradual progress during the coronavirus pandemic recovery. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a total of 950,000. The number reflects an improving labor market as well as a change in methodology from the Labor

With seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims totaling 881,000 last week, millions of Americans are still in need of financial assistance from the federal government. Congressional Democrats and the Trump administration are deadlocked, leaving Americans unsure if more help will arrive soon. Less than a month ago, President Donald Trump tried to do it on his own

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 1.37 million in August and the unemployment rate tumbled to 8.4% as the U.S. economy continued to climb its way out of the pandemic downturn. The unemployment rate was by far the lowest since the coronavirus shutdown in March, according to Labor Department figures released Friday. An alternative measure that includes

The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building stands in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. Erin Scott | Bloomberg via Getty Images Certain often-overlooked markets may be telling us that the Fed’s new policy framework is going to have some immediate unintended consequences. While that may be a bold claim, there is hard

The U.S. economic recovery has been held back because Americans lack trust with one another over the coronavirus, Mohamed El-Erian told CNBC on Thursday.  “It is very difficult for any individual to be certain whether the other person is healthy or not, and that other person is not certain whether you’re healthy or not,” El-Erian said in

Private payroll growth came in well below expectations for August, according to a report Wednesday from ADP, whose job tallies have differed widely from the government’s during the coronavirus pandemic. Companies added 428,000 jobs during the month, well below the 1.17 million estimate from economists surveyed by Dow Jones though a leap above the lackluster

The co-CIO of the world’s largest hedge fund told CNBC on Tuesday that the U.S. economy continues to need significant fiscal support in order to sustain its recovery from the coronavirus-induced devastation.  Greg Jensen of Bridgewater Associates said the firm estimates that the price tag for another coronavirus relief bill is between $1.3 trillion and

Getty Images The pace of job gains over the next decade will slow considerably amid a sharp decline in the active labor force and an aging population, according to Labor Department projections released Tuesday. From the period of 2020-29, the economy is expected to add a net 6 million new jobs, an annual growth rate

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Friday that he believes the recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic is over but that the central bank will continue its accommodative stance toward the U.S. economy.  Bullard said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” that he expected the third quarter to be “one of the best quarters ever for

The Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates just because the unemployment rate is falling, the central bank’s vice chairman, Richard Clarida, said Monday. In a wide-ranging speech that addressed a major policy shift in Fed thinking, Clarida also said he and his fellow officials do not see negative interest rates as a viable option

Chinese and U.S. flags flutter near The Bund, before U.S. trade delegation meet their Chinese counterparts for talks in Shanghai, China July 30, 2019. Aly Song | Reuters Today the world’s leading chief financial officers have a more positive outlook for China’s economy than they do for the economy of the United States. The Q3

Getty Images Now that Federal Reserve officials have sent a clear message on their desire for higher inflation, the tough part is convincing the world that they can pull it off. For the past decade, the Fed has struggled to get inflation up to the 2% target it sees as consistent with a growing economy

The Federal Reserve will have to keep supporting the economy as the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic “is going to be a slow one,” a top official at the central bank said Friday. “There’s more pain out there that we’re going to have to support the economy through,” Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed,

U.S. consumers increased their spending by 1.9% last month, a dose of support for an economy struggling to emerge from the grip of a pandemic that has held back a recovery and kept roughly 27 million people jobless. The July gain marked the third straight monthly increase in consumer spending, the primary driver of the

Patrick T. Harker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Charles Mostoller | Bloomberg | Getty Images Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker said Friday that it will take a significant amount of time before the U.S. sees unemployment figures return to their pre-coronavirus lows. Harker, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, also