UNEMPLOYMENT

The number of Americans lining up for new jobless benefits last week had its biggest decline in four years, the Labor Department said Thursday, but one-time factors such as fewer auto-sector layoffs than normal plus the July 4 holiday likely caused the sharp decline.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower opening Thursday as investor sentiment continued to be dragged down by weak global economic conditions.

As President Barack Obama pivots to make income inequality a focus of his campaign, income and wealth disparities are widening to alarming proportions.

Newly released minutes of the U.S. Central bank's June 19-20 Federal Open Market Committee meeting were being taken by the stock market as indicating unwillingness to engage in further monetary easing.

After promising late last week to press the accelerator pedal on spending and tax reforms, Rajoy outlined a serious of major efforts aimed at reducing his nation's budget gap and securing the faith of his European Union partners.

In long forgotten days, before most bank profits came from risky speculation and taxpayer bailouts and those institutions still lived or died by their ability to attract depositors, customers who opened new checking accounts were often given toasters as tokens of appreciation.

The U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Agriculture is scheduled Wednesday to start the final stage of producing its version of the farm bill, which will likely be delayed. An examination of both the House and Senate versions offer a glimpse into the priorities of U.S. agro policy through 2017.

It's going to be very, very dovish.

The U.S. is currently in a recessionary cycle and, no matter what they say, there's nothing policymakers can do to stop that. That's according to Lakshman Achuthan, co-founder of the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

There is an undeniable transformation happening to the United States of America. For some it is subtle, for some it is overt, for some it is seemingly nonexistent. But, for all, it is disastrous and happening before our very eyes.

British industrial data released Tuesday, while a slight improvement over the previous month's figures, can't hide the fact that the economy is still weak, experts say.

Unemployment in advanced economies will remain high until at least the end of 2013, with youth and the low-skilled hurt most by the weakest economic recovery in the past four decades, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Tuesday.

China's double-digit growth rate during the financial crisis has been the envy of the world and most people agree that we may have seen the last of the country's miraculous growth. So yes, China's growth is slowing. However, it's too early to get all pessimistic.

The Beatles and Rolling Stones were inadvertently stepping into a vacuum ? the biggest rock star in the world, Elvis Presley, was inducted into the army in 1962.

Facebook, which is expected to claim one-seventh of humanity in its grasp next month, is trying to give LinkedIn a run for its money with a proposed entry into the job-recruiting market.

Asian markets fell Monday as investor sentiment turned negative with economic data from Japan and the U.S. indicating the faltering economic growth.

Cutting federal spending in 2012 could tip the U.S. economy back into a recession, just as it almost did in 1937. On the contrary, if the federal government spent more on infrastructure and public works projects now and in the immediate quarters ahead, it would create millions of jobs.

Asian stock markets face the week with sentiment leaning negative as economic news, particularly from China, is likely to disappoint investors.

Politico's headline jolts readers the moment they sign on to the site and read, Zombie Economy Threatens Obama. After all the zombie apocalypse hysteria our nation has been experiencing lately, the walking dead have even made their way -- metaphorically, of course -- into the economy.

Many high school graduates want to forego university altogether.

The pace of bankruptcy filings in the U.S. is slowing down to pre-recession levels, but don?t cheer just yet ?because hundreds of thousands of Americans might have been too broke to file for bankruptcy.