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Shopping is back in style, at least for the holiday season.
Retail sales for the holidays soared more than 5 percent, according to two reports released Monday, led by online and clothing purchases. The preliminary reports, among the first tallies of the holiday shopping season, beat the estimates of most retail economists. Get the full story »
The Chicago Fed Midwest Manufacturing Index increased slightly in November to 81.1 percent, according to data released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
October’s index was revised to 80.8 percent, a .3 percent increase from September. Get the full story »
A major snowstorm on the U.S. East Coast kept many people away from malls just after Christmas, casting a pall on the final act of the holiday shopping season.
The weekend’s blizzard conditions, which shut down airports and halted traffic, may also signal an end to shoppers’ appetite in the next few months. Retail shares declined more than the wider stock market on Monday. Get the full story »
Treasury prices picked up where they left off before Christmas: heading lower.
Investors sent bond prices down just a bit Monday, after a surprise interest rate hike in China and before a $99 billion auction of long-term government notes scheduled for this week. Get the full story »
More Americans purchased new homes in November, though not enough to signal better times are ahead for the battered housing industry.
Sales of new homes rose 5.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 290,000 units, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. That’s less than half the rate that economists consider healthy. And the increase follows an October sales pace that nearly matched the lowest level in 47 years. Get the full story »
An employee at a store in New York, Dec. 6, 2010. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
New U.S. claims for jobless benefits dipped last week and consumer spending increased in November for a fifth straight month, reinforcing views of a solid economic growth pace in the fourth quarter.
Initial claims fell 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 420,000, the Labor Department said on Thursday, matching economists’ expectations.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed spending rose 0.4 percent after increasing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in October. Get the full story »
The Treasury Department says six banks have repaid government bailouts worth a combined $2.66 billion.
The banks are returning taxpayer money that they received in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
The banks that repaid their bailouts on Wednesday are Huntington Bancshares, First Horizon National Corp., Wintrust Financial Corp., Susquehanna Bancshares Inc., Heritage Financial Corp. and The Bank of Kentucky Financial Corp. Get the full story »
Sales of existing homes in the Chicago area plunged more than 30 percent in November, hurt by difficult comparisons as buyers last year sought to capitalize on federal homebuyer tax cut programs. Get the full story »
U.S. economic growth was a touch higher than previously estimated in the third quarter, but below expectations as a rise in the pace of inventory accumulation was offset by downward revisions to consumer spending, a government report showed on Wednesday.
Gross domestic product growth was revised up to an annualized rate of 2.6 percent from 2.5 percent, the Commerce Department said. Get the full story »
Holiday shoppers will need to bump up their budget for one purchase this year, and they can’t even put it under the tree: gasoline.
The price of fuel is up 13.6 percent from last December and 76 percent higher than December 2008, according to a new study from the Oil Price Information Service. Get the full story »
Fitch ratings agency is warning of a possible downgrade of Greek bonds, adding pressure on the Socialist government as it debates the 2011 budget in parliament. Get the full story »
Cook County workers saw their average compensation decline by 0.3 percent in 2009 to $67,791 per job, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
When adding the compensation of all workers, Cook County experienced a decline of 5.2 percent to 1.7 million. Cook was among the more than 2,000 counties — about two-thirds — that experienced compensation declines in 2009. Get the full story »
The Treasury Department plans to sell a large piece of its stake in American International Group in two stock offerings next year, officials briefed on the situation told Reuters. Get the full story »
