Inside these posts: Economic recovery

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Signs point to better raises this year

U.S. workers have reason to hope for slightly better pay raises this year, a shift that could add momentum to the economic recovery.

This could mean average wage gains of as much as 3 percent in 2011, compared with 1.7 percent in 2010–enough to boost consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, but not so much that it would stoke concerns of an inflationary spiral. Get the full story »

Duke: Recovery, not Fed moves, raising interest rates

U.S. economic recovery may have started to gain traction and market expectations for stronger recovery have bid up interest rates, Federal Reserve Gov. Elizabeth Duke said Friday.

Duke, in prepared remarks to the Maryland Bankers Association, said she believes expectations will remain subdued despite signs economic recovery is gaining momentum. Get the full story »

Roubini: U.S. on track for ‘fiscal train wreck’

NYU economics professor Nouriel Roubini. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)

The U.S. economy is a “fiscal train wreck” waiting to happen that risks ushering in a period of stagnation featuring minimal growth, high unemployment and deflationary pressure, U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini wrote on Friday.

In a commentary for the Financial Times, Roubini — one of the first economists to predict the housing crash in the United States and known as ‘Dr Doom’ for his pessimistic forecasts — said fiscal and monetary stimulus had prevented another depression.

But he said that further quantitative easing likely to be announced by the Federal Reserve next Wednesday will have little effect on U.S. growth in 2011, “so fiscal policy should be doing some of the lifting to prevent a double dip recession,” he said. Get the full story »

Economic growth gauge falls to six-week low

A measure of future U.S. economic growth fell to a six-week low in the latest week, while the index’s annualized growth rate rose to an 18-week high, a research group said on Friday. Get the full story »

AptarGroup’s third-quarter profit rises 40%

AptarGroup Inc.’s third-quarter earnings rose 40% to beat views, but the product-dispenser maker was downbeat about earnings for the current quarter because of dollar strength and a tough comparison. Get the full story »

Evans suggests Fed drive up inflation

The U.S. Federal Reserve should do “much more” monetary easing to spur a sluggish economic recovery, a top Fed official said in an interview published Tuesday.

“In the last several months I’ve stared at our unemployment forecast and come to the conclusion that it’s just not coming down nearly as quickly as it should,” Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans told the Wall Street Journal. Get the full story »

Bernanke: Policy has not delivered robust recovery

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the economics profession has a lot to answer for after the financial crisis of 2007-2009, including why economists have been unable so far to engineer a healthy recovery. Get the full story »

Number of Americans in poverty jumps to 43.6M

The ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work last year, leaving one in seven Americans in poverty.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama’s first year in office.

Greenspan: Recovery underway, but paused

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says he thinks the economy is having a modest recovery, but right now there’s a “pause” in that recovery, so it feels like a “quasi-recession.”

Greenspan says long-term unemployment is pulling the economy apart even though large banks are doing much better and large companies are in excellent shape. Greenspan predicts that unemployment will remain where it is, hovering around 9.5 percent, for the rest of the year.

Fed minutes show it stands ready if recovery falters

Federal Reserve officials last month felt they should be ready to consider additional steps to boost the U.S. economy if theĀ  softening outlook took a noticeable turn for the worse.

“As a result of the change in financial conditions, most participants revised down slightly their outlook for economic growth,” minutes of the June 22-23 meeting of the Fed’s policy panel released Wednesday said. Get the full story »