Economy and Politics

The U.S. economy is on pace for growth of 2.5% over the course of 2016, said Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, speaking in London on Monday. "The most important fundamental is the improvement of labor prospects. The U.S. labor market has been strong for quite some time," he said at the City Week conference. "More recently, labor-force participation has improved noticeably," he said. But weak spots for the economic outlook include the impact of lower commodity prices on capital expenditure, and "the international sector has been a drag on growth." Evans, considered to be a dovish Fed official, is not a voting member on the Fed's interest-rate setting board this year.

Donald Trump said his ambitious package of across-the-board tax reductions is meant to serve as a starting point for negotiations with Congress, and that he could see taxes actually rise for upper-income households if needed to win cuts for the middle class.

Over the past two centuries, some 79 million people have come to the U.S. and obtained legal resident status. They started from Ireland, fleeing the potato famine, in the mid-1800s. Then Germany led the way. Canada was big in the 1920s, and, of course, it’s all about Mexico lately.

But Greece’s most influential creditors, Germany and the International Monetary Fund, remain deadlocked over the terms of Greece’s bailout plan, which the IMF thinks is badly flawed but Germany says can’t be changed.

Hillary Clinton is consolidating her support among Wall Street donors and other businesses ahead of a general-election battle with Donald Trump, winning more campaign contributions from financial-services executives in the most recent fundraising period than all other candidates combined.

Global leaders are beginning to ponder the impact of a Donald Trump presidency, with some officials parsing the Republican’s stated positions for clues on what it would mean for relations with the U.S.

The skimpier number of new jobs created in April has been shrugged off by those who think the U.S. economy is still on the right track. But a smaller group of doubters see it as an “I told you so” moment. Who’s right?

The GOP frontrunner actually thinks the U.S. could give creditors a ‘haircut’ on its debt, writes Tim Mullaney.

More and more people seem to be accepting the reality of climate change, but you wouldn’t know it from what’s happening in the corridors of power across the U.S.

Khan, the son of a bus driver, soundly beat his Conservative rival, receiving more than 1.3 million votes.

The European debt crisis is merely slumbering, and Italy and France are particularly vulnerable, writes Satyajit Das.

Amit Sinha tells Janet Yellen the Fed model assumes he should be buying a large home, reducing savings and spending more. He’s not.

Borrowing by U.S. consumers ballooned in March at the fastest pace in more than a decade.

Special Master Kenneth Feinberg on Friday rejected a plan that would have slashed the pension benefits due Teamsters union members by about 22%.

Companies scaled back hiring in April, adding just 160,000 new jobs, in a sign the U.S. economy is still suffering from an early-year chill.

The slowdown in job growth combined with the slow economy takes an interest-rate increase off the table at the next Federal Reserve meeting in June, economists said.

Don’t roll your eyes — the weaker-than-forecast jobs numbers in April can be blamed on the weather.

President Barack Obama said presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s long record must be examined.

The use of non-GAAP metrics by hot tech companies is under fire but Square uses one to clearly signal the impact of the end of its Starbucks agreement

Donald Trump has gotten the equivalent of nearly $3 billion in free advertising since last May, according to the latest statistics from the firm mediaQuant, blowing away rivals in both parties.