Why housing sales are stalling

Sep 25, 2018
Economic growth has been accelerating this year — unemployment is low, wages have been edging up and so has consumer spending. So you’d think the housing sector, which usually benefits from favorable conditions for consumers and working people, would be booming right now. But what was looking like a really good year for housing sales […]

Amazon hopes to grow in India with a Hindi website

Sep 5, 2018
The company, which just reached $1 trillion in market value, is trying to tap into a market of 1.3 billion people.
An Indian security guard walks inside Amazon's largest Fulfillment Centre (FC) in India, on the outskirts of Hyderabad on September 7, 2017.
NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images

Labor shortage = labor shortage

May 17, 2018
The latest birth rate numbers are out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Americans, you are not being fruitful and multiplying. Last year saw the lowest number of births in 30 years. That dearth of babies has a lot of repercussions for the future — a smaller active labor force would mean […]

Stagflation, explained

Apr 26, 2018
Inflation is kicking into gear. But it’s not clear economic activity will shift much higher. Higher prices and slow growth are some key ingredients for “stagflation.”  Is that where we’re headed? Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Forecast is sunny for business

Apr 23, 2018
But economists say more hiring and bigger profits ahead have little to do with tax cuts.
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), flanked by Republican lawmakers, speaks during an enrollment ceremony for the conference report to H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was passed by the House and Senate, on Dec. 21, 2017, in Washington, D.C.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images

IMF bumps up U.S. growth projections for 2018

Apr 17, 2018
The International Monetary Fund raised its growth target for the American economy today to 2.9 percent. That’s very close to the three percent forecast the Trump administration promised.  In a conversation about President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and the overall state of the economy on Fox News this morning,  Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said we […]

So what's the Fed forecasting in the near economic future?

Apr 13, 2018
Also: some more of that — now familiar — trade talk.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference March 21, 2018 in Washington, D.C. 
Alex Wong/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Productivity is poised to rise. Finally.

Feb 21, 2018
Labor productivity, a measure of how efficient workers are, hasn’t been improving in recent years. That has caused worry among economists, because worker productivity has a big impact on economic growth. Well, times may be a-changing. The McKinsey Global Institute is out with a new report that says this era of low productivity growth might […]

How accurate were Trump's economics at Davos?

Jan 26, 2018
The numbers he brought up don’t paint the whole picture.
President Trump delivers a speech during an annual meeting at the World Economic Forum (WEF). 
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

U.S. economy grew at solid 2.6 percent rate in fourth quarter

Jan 26, 2018
Growth was spurred by a surge in consumer spending, but the gain was slightly below economists’ 2.8 percent forecast.
A worker carries lumber as he builds a new home in Petaluma, California. 
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images