The US consumer confidence has risen to 10.5 points in August, hitting its highest level in 7 months while the Conference Board's consumer index reached 101.5 this month.
Industry
US home lending grows for 5 quarters in a row
At a time when the US construction sector is showing renewed activity, the rise in construction spending is boosting the US gross domestic product (GDP). At this juncture, home builders are upbeat on the prospects in the real estate and construction sectors as availability of loans is longer scarce.
Three crisp sentences that best summarize the current market condition
Global markets these days have become more and more unpredictable with the US and Chinese stocks' consistent historical upswings and plunges in the past few months. To make things worse, the oil price has hit a six and a half year low. The condition can finally be compared to the days right after the 9/11 attacks.
Starting salaries for US workers to surge in 2016 - studies
Recent prediction reveals that starting salaries of professional roles could have a 4.1% increase next year. The 2016 Salary Guides from Robert Half shows that among the five fields tracked the expected salary for professional roles could increase on average by that rate in 2016, with the technology sector to gain higher pay grades in its 5.3% expected increase base pay.
Nordstrom, TJMaxx earnings report upbeat; Kohl's is down
Retailers are experiencing a mixed season, so are the department stores. Not a lot of consumers are going in hoards to spend their money in department stores. It may be due to this year's later Labor Day, or maybe they'd rather be in the beach than shopping in the malls.
Latest News
Durable goods orders were up two percent in July on month-on-month (m-o-M) basis giving wider scope for the US gross domestic production (GDP) to reach over 2.8 percent in the third quarter this year as latest research reports forecast.
The US services sector's growth slowed down in early August but surpassed the forecast. According to the financial firm Markit Economics, the flash US Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) recorded 55.2 points in August from 55.7 points in July.
Chinese factor is impacting significantly growth plans of several economies in the Asian region. The uncertainty in the stock markets and volatility in the foreign exchange (forex) have kept the many Asian nations in a gripping situation.
One can cite several reasons for the ongoing crash of equity values across the global markets. The major reason that no one can afford to avoid is Chinese factor. The slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, China's latest devaluation of its currency Yuan, drop in manufacturing output, mining companies reporting worst performance, etc, all these developments are impacting the global markets in fact all the countries including developed and emerging economies as well.
Prices of various precious metals have dropped, hitting junior miners. This prompted the junior miners to venture on various unconventional options, ranging from exporting eggs to farming medical marijuana.
With California's real estate over saturating fast, Chicago is poised to be next best option among other potential cities to be future Silicon Valley tech hubs.
Adverse conditions in the global markets took a toll on Norway's Pension Fund, the world's largest sovereign fund, in the second quarter.
The growth rate of new businesses in the U.S. is particularly slow, but the latest government data shows that the number of women-owned firms has increased quite significantly.
Target stores are getting more foot traffic and shoppers are spending more in each trip, raising the company's annual profit outlook and increasing its second-quarter net income three folds, announced the discount-store chain Wednesday.
