Wednesday, April 7, 2010 as of 11:14 AM ET
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction, a general slowdown in economic activity. Macroeconomic indicators such as GDP, employment, investment spending, capacity utilization, household income, business profits, and inflation fall, while bankruptcies and the unemployment rate rise.
Read More at Wikipedia ›The weak May unemployment report presents President Barack Obama with a sobering reminder that his stewardship of a gradual recovery from the deepest recession since the Great Depression presents a tenuous argument for his re-election.
Anemic job growth and an uptick in joblessness to 8.2 percent also give new resonance to Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney's campaign and puts Obama on the defensive after a winter when the jobs trends were in his favor.The jobs numbers, issued every four weeks from a spare, windowless room in the heart of the federal bureaucracy, are setting the battle lines for the presidential election.As this year's dominant economic barometer, they are a baseline from which to gauge Obama's and Romney's political fortunes in an election that rides on the pace of a post-recession recovery.Romney, responding to the first jobs numbers released since he clinched the GOP presidential nomination, called the figures "devastating news.""It seems like we've been movin...Spain insisted Friday it is financially stable because its heavily indebted regions are now meeting deficit reduction targets, but investors remained worried about t...
What is implication for global economy?
Only a month ago, surprisingly strong corporate earnings and steady growth in the U.S. economy had investors in a cheery mood. The Dow Jones industrial average stood...
The European Union urged Spain on Thursday to come clean on how it plans to finance the overhaul of its banking sector, warning that uncertainty over this has contri...
Chris Stirewalt heads to the big board to break down the battleground state of North Carolina.
Nothing upsets a president's re-election groove like ugly economic numbers.A spring slowdown in hiring and a rise in the unemployment rate are weighing on President ...
Mayor Foxx on city's reversal of fortune
Consumer spending edged up modestly in April but personal income growth was the slowest in five months, raising concerns about the ability of Americans to keep spend...
The head of Greece's Radical Left Coalition, whose strong gains in last month's elections deepened concerns over his country's future in the European single currency...
Stocks fell sharply Friday after the release of a dismal report on job creation in the United States. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 200 points, ...
House Speaker John Boehner joined Mitt Romney and other Republicans in expressing concern about the bleak May unemployment report released Friday, saying "Americans ...
U.S. builders increased their spending on construction projects for a second month in April. A pickup in home construction and commercial projects offset a fifth con...
The U.S. economy suddenly looks a lot weaker.Only 69,000 jobs were added in May, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent...
The U.S. economy suddenly looks a lot weaker.Only 69,000 jobs were added in May, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment rate rose from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent...
Friday, forecasters expect the Labor Department to report the economy added 150,000 jobs in May—better than the 115,000 in April but well below the 229,000 monthly p...
The economy added only 69,000 jobs in May—only about half of what is needed to keep up with natural population growth. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent. In ...
U.S. auto sales remained a bright spot in May even as the economy darkened.Many of the biggest carmakers reported double-digit sales gains last month compared with a...
Chris Stirewalt, FBN's Nicole Petalides and Michael Barone discuss the latest economic data and the political repurcussions.
Unemployment across the 17 countries that use the euro stayed at 11 percent in April — the highest level since the single currency was introduced back in 1999, pilin...
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