By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) – It’s looking like an unsettling spring in Canadian housing, a market that has proven far more even-keeled and less scary for investors in recent years than in the United States. In what is traditionally the best season of the year for real estate agents, Toronto agent Ecko Jay says [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Construction spending dropped to a seven-month low in March as public outlays recorded their largest drop since 2006, which could cause the first-quarter economic growth estimate to be trimmed. Construction spending fell 1.7 percent to an annual rate of $856.72 billion, the lowest level since August, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. [...]
By Pedro da Costa and Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it will continue buying $85 billion in bonds each month to keep interest rates low and spur growth, and added it would step up purchases if needed to protect the economy. Expressing concern about a drag from Washington’s [...]
By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Consumer spending unexpectedly rose in March, temporarily boosted by demand for utilities due to colder weather, according to data on Monday that did little to alter a picture of a cooling in the economy. The Commerce Department said consumer spending advanced 0.2 percent last month after a 0.7 percent [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of new single-family homes rose in March, indicating the housing market recovery remains on track. The Commerce Department said on Tuesday sales increased 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 417,000 units. Last month’s rise followed a 7.6 percent drop in February. Economists polled by Reuters had expected sales [...]
By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Factory activity expanded at its slowest pace in six months in April, the latest sign that economic growth continued to lose momentum early in the second quarter, though the recovery has not been derailed. Even as the economic picture has dimmed in recent weeks as the effects of government [...]
By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Home resales edged downward in March, pointing to some slowdown in the housing market recovery pace as overall economic activity cools. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday existing home sales slipped 0.6 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million units. Economists polled [...]
By Tom Bill LONDON (Reuters) – Insatiable demand among the global super-rich for swanky retail property in Europe has driven rental returns on the best shopping streets so low they are not much higher than the safest government bonds. As the wealthy shield cash from the hazards of the financial crisis in the world’s most [...]
By Bill Rigby SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein is leaving at the end of June after 3-1/2 years in the post, as the world’s biggest software company struggles with sharply declining personal computer sales and a lukewarm reception for the new Windows 8 operating system. The 11-year Microsoft veteran becomes [...]
By Jonathan Spicer and Leah Schnurr NEW YORK (Reuters) – Easy money policies are bringing some relief to lower-income Americans hard-hit in the recession and the easing could become increasingly potent as the housing market recovers, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday. In a speech on equality and the economy, Fed Governor Sarah [...]
