Last week, the national average interest rate on a fixed-rate, 30-year mortgage fell to 6.58 percent, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), down from 6.63 percent the week before, reaching its lowest since October 2024.
U.S. wholesale prices jumped 0.9 percent in July, their biggest monthly increase since June 2022. Producers’ margins increased, indicating that a significant number of them are passing tariff costs through to their customers, Bloomberg noted.
The dollar value of U.S. retail sales increased by 0.5 percent in July, more than inflation rose, on stronger sales of passenger vehicles and heavy promotions by Amazon and Walmart.
Consumers are no longer fearing a short-term economic catastrophe from Donald Trump’s tariff war, but they do expect higher prices and fewer jobs, according to this month’s survey of consumer sentiment by the University of Michigan.
In July, consumer prices rose 0.2 percent from June, as economists forecasted, and grew by 2.7 percent year on year.
The economic landscape has presented an array of challenges that will profoundly affect the business community this year.
U.S.-based human resources leaders conducted multiple rounds of layoffs in the past year with many saying they implemented “serial layoffs” that occurred in rapid succession, according to a recent survey by outplacement firm Careerminds. Financial instability was cited as the biggest factor in the job cuts, followed by changing business priorities, market uncertainty, and overstaffing.
Big banks in the U.S. that have once taken a skeptical approach to the basket of cryptocurrencies on the market have had a collective change of heart now that President Donald Trump is in office, and the dramatic shift is viewed as both politically opportunistic and pragmatic, according to a new report.
U.S. President Donald Trump picked EJ Antoni, a devout supporter, to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) after firing the previous leader over a jobs report, drawing new criticism over his determination to surround himself with lackeys.