Economic Indicators

Thanks to a red-hot summer, contract signings are still 20.2% ahead of where they were last year.

U.S. shoppers went online to purchase holiday gifts and score Black Friday deals they once crowded into malls to grab, as the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the yearslong remaking of the U.S. retail landscape.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to move $455 billion in unspent coronavirus stimulus money into a fund that the incoming Biden administration cannot deploy without congressional approval.

The experience-based economy, with its emphasis on travel and entertainment, has been replaced during the pandemic-based lockdowns with a focus on goods reminiscent of the materialistic 1980s.

The massive social safety net that Congress put in place for Americans struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic is unraveling, with several key CARES Act provisions and executive orders set to expire at the end of the year. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said progressives need to pressure President-elect Joe Biden to bypass Congress and cancel billions of dollars in student loan debt when he assumes the White House early next year.

Mark Cuban accused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ted Cruz of prioritizing their political parties over the needs of the American people as the two traded barbs over who's to blame for a months-long impasse on another coronavirus relief package.

Economists are concerned that U.S. factories are still facing significant headwinds including a sharp rise in recent weeks in coronavirus cases that could cause demand to suffer in coming months.

Consumer spending appears to have increased more slowly recently after rebounding strongly this summer. But it has been good enough to help fuel economic growth since the sharp recession this past spring, when the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of businesses, schools and government agencies across the U.S. to shut down or limit their activities.

The Dow is up roughly 60% from its March low

The U.S. is facing a tidal wave of evictions at the end of the year unless the federal government, in the eleventh hour, extends key pandemic-related protections for millions of renters and homeowners.

Some Democratic lawmakers opened the door this week to a smaller coronavirus relief deal as Congress faces growing pressure to pass an aid package before the end of the year.

A group of more than 125 economists is calling on Congress to send out more direct cash payments to American families to help them weather the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic downturn.

Millions of Americans face a sudden loss of their unemployment benefits the day after Christmas if Congress fails to enact a new coronavirus relief package before year's end, deepening the economic pain of the pandemic. 

President-elect Joe Biden is facing growing pressure to erase student loan debt on his first day in office as part of a broader coronavirus relief effort – but doing so may be an ineffective way to boost the nation's pandemic-stricken economy, according to a new analysis.

Many Americans have been forced to learn to cook, and those who were already handy in the kitchen have grown more so.

Earlier this year, when much of the country's economy shut down in the first waves of the coronavirus pandemic, companies withdrew cash from credit lines, stopped repurchasing stock and halted dividend payments amid the uncertainty.

The billionaire Walton family that controls Walmart is among a group of investors backing a startup aiming to design at-home Covid-19 tests.

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Americans are increasingly moving to the northern and western United States. 

There is still time for non-filers to receive a $1,200 Economic Impact Payment from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), but the clock is ticking.