Patrice Hill

Trade deficit jumped in May

The U.S. trade deficit with the rest of the world surged by nearly 5 percent to $42.3 billion in May, reflecting strong growth in imports of cars, computers and clothing, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday morning.

July 13, 2010

Treasury: Chinese currency still undervalued

The Treasury Department says China's currency remains undervalued despite the Asian giant's move last month to loosen its strict link to the U.S. dollar.

July 9, 2010

Drilling delay to boost oil imports

President Obama's moratorium on deep-water drilling could have the unintended effect of increasing U.S. dependence on oil imports -- thus raising the risk of a more common type of oil spill from tankers, energy analysts say.

July 8, 2010

Recovery slows down as stimulus funding expires

The U.S. economic recovery downshifted dramatically this spring as various stimulus measures enacted by Congress ended or started to wane.

July 4, 2010

Census jobs end, but private hirings rise again

Businesses resumed hiring again last month, posting 83,000 openings in areas from health care to manufacturing, partially offsetting the layoff of temporary census workers, the Labor Department reported Friday morning.

July 2, 2010

Finance bill clears House hurdle

The House passed President Obama's sweeping financial reform measure on a 237-192 party-line vote Wednesday while Senate leaders — still seeking to nail down elusive Republican votes — put off taking up the measure until mid-July.

June 30, 2010

Democrats scramble to save reform package

President Obama touts his financial reform bill as the most far-reaching since the Great Depression, but critics are calling it a paper tiger that wouldn't have stopped the last financial crisis while imposing an intricate web of new government regulation on banks that will stifle economic growth for years to come.

June 29, 2010

Confidence plunge helps send stocks down

A sharp drop in consumer confidence helped set off a drop in stocks on Tuesday and renewed worries about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery.

June 29, 2010

Obama hails deal on Wall Street reform

President Obama flew to Canada Friday morning for an economic summit with world leaders, armed with news of a congressional deal reforming Wall Street practices that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

June 25, 2010

Europe budget cutters outpace U.S.

European leaders, under the gun of a withering financial crisis, are actually proposing and carrying out drastic cuts, provoking the kind of public backlash that inspires fear in U.S. politicians.

June 25, 2010

Mortgage rates fall to record lows

The rates on 30-year mortgages last week fell to 4.69 percent, the lowest level on record, Freddie Mac reported Thursday.

June 24, 2010

New home sales plunge to hit a record low

A report Wednesday that new home sales plummeted to a record low after the federal housing tax credit expired added to worries that the broader economy could relapse after a spurt of growth in the last year.

June 23, 2010

Stimulus aid to states seen delaying ‘day of reckoning’

A debate is raging over whether stimulus funds are actually helping states weather the recession or simply enabling them to postpone matching a record drop in tax revenues since 2007 with badly needed spending reforms and cuts.

June 21, 2010

House provision on Fed rejected

Congressional negotiators on Wednesday jettisoned a House amendment that threatened to interfere with the Federal Reserve's anti-inflation efforts while widening the public window for viewing into the Fed's secretive lending and securities market activities.

June 16, 2010

EU overspenders may lose voting rights

France and Germany on Monday proposed suspending the voting rights of European Union members who persistently break budget deficit limits, a major reform that would put teeth for the first time in the union's economic pact, but one that faces legal hurdles.

June 14, 2010