Economy

Which Advanced Economy Has the Most Debt?

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The global economy is straining under the weight of more than just public sector debt. In the developed world, consumers, financial institutions, and other corporations have each accumulated unprecedented levels of debt — and how that total debt is managed will ultimately determine the economic fate of the global economy going forward.

Euro Crisis: Why a Greek Exit Could Be Much Worse than Expected

Angelos Tzortzinis / Bloomberg / Getty Images

More than one kind of damaging domino effect is possible if Greece is forced to abandon the euro

Market Breaks Losing Streak, With China’s Help

(NEW YORK) — Forget Facebook. This is still Apple‘s stock market. Apple — the world’s most valuable company — climbed nearly 6 percent on Monday, helping propel major U.S. stock indexes to gains after a week of losses. The Standard & Poor’s 500, where Apple accounts for 4 percent of the index, enjoyed its best [...]

Unemployment Rates Drop in 2/3 of States

WASHINGTON— Unemployment rates fell in two-thirds of U.S. states last month, evidence that modest economic growth is boosting hiring in most areas of the country. And in many states, unemployment has fallen well below the national average, which was 8.1 percent last month. Rates were lower than 7 percent in 22 states in April. That [...]

Unemployment Benefit Applications Remain Unchanged at 370,000

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(WASHINGTON) — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, suggesting steady gains in the job market. The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly unemployment aid applications stayed at a seasonally adjusted 370,000, the same level as the previous week. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell for the second straight [...]

Report: Fewer US Homes Foreclosed upon in April

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — National foreclosure trends took a positive turn in April, as the number of homes seized by banks declined and fewer properties entered into the foreclosure process. But state-level data point to potentially more home repossessions ahead in Florida and many of the 25 other states where courts are required to sign off [...]

Is the Stock Market Wildly Overoptimistic?

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Stocks appear to be flying too high in light of the enormous number of risks that the U.S. economy faces over the next 12 months.

Recession in Europe: E.U. Predicts Negative Growth in 2012

Associated Press

BRUSSELS  — The European Union estimates that the economy of the 17 countries that use the euro is in recession in the wake of a debt crisis that has prompted savage spending cuts and a jump in unemployment to record highs. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, forecasts that the eurozone economy [...]

Which States Have the Most Economic Mobility?

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Americans love economic mobility. It’s kind of a founding myth for us: We see ourselves as having broken free from rigid, aristocratic Europe to form a meritocracy that guaranteed a chance to move up in the world. Though there has been much talk lately about rising income inequality in the United States, what has worried [...]

Bond King Says Budget Pain Isn’t Enough in Europe

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The struggling countries of Europe have cut spending for two years in hopes of averting financial catastrophe and persuading bond investors to buy their debt. But the world’s most influential bond investor thinks it won’t work.