Category: Business

Unemployment in OECD countries will remain high through 2014, with young people and the low-skilled hit hardest, according to a new OECD report. The Employment Outlook 2013 says that jobless rates will…

WASHINGTON – Industrial production increased 0.3 percent in June after having been unchanged in May, the U.S. Federal Reserve said Tuesday. For the second quarter as a whole, industrial production moved up…

July 16, 2013 – Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose six points to 57 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) for…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on July 12th proposed an “action level” of 10 parts per billion (ppb) for inorganic arsenic in apple juice. This is the same level…

WAHINGTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday allowed marketing of the first medical device based on brain function to help assess attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents 6…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on July 12th approved Gilotrif (afatinib) for patients with late stage (metastatic) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumors express specific types of epidermal growth factor…

WASHINGTON – Six federal financial regulatory agencies this week issued a proposed rule that would create exemptions from certain appraisal requirements for a subset of higher-priced mortgage loans. The proposed exemptions are…

Rome – World total cereal production is forecast to increase by about 7 percent in 2013 compared to last year, helping to replenish global inventories and raise expectations for more stable markets…

WASHINGTON – Consumer delinquencies declined significantly in this year’s first quarter, falling in 11 out of 13 loan categories as consumers more carefully manage their finances, according to results from the American Bankers…

WASHINGTON – In the week ending June 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 343,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 348,000. The 4-week moving average…

AMES, Iowa — An appropriations bill signed June 20th by Gov. Terry Branstad will help expand the Iowa State University Research Park and improve service to new and growing companies. The bill includes $12…

NEW YORK – The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today issued the host state loan-to-deposit…

NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday approved a final rule to help ensure banks maintain strong capital positions that will enable them to continue lending to creditworthy households and…

Fifty-five hospitals located throughout twenty-one states have agreed to pay the United States a total of more than $34 million to settle allegations that the health care facilities submitted false claims to…

Office of the Spokesperson Washington, DC July 2, 2013 The Virtual Student Foreign Service (VSFS) is a unique opportunity allowing U.S. citizen college students to engage in citizen diplomacy through virtual internships…

DES MOINES – The Iowa Tourism Office and nine Convention and Visitors Bureaus have partnered with the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) to provide rolling billboards that encourage travel in Iowa. Nine…

WASHINGTON (June 27, 2013) – Pending home sales rose in May to the highest level since late 2006, implying a possible spark as mortgage interest rates began to rise, according to the…

NEW YORK – Governments must take measures to protect children from harmful work in small-scale fisheries and aquaculture, two United Nations agencies stressed today, noting that many are exposed to hazardous working…

NEW YORK – The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had improved in May, increased again in June. The Index now stands at 81.4 (1985=100), up from 74.3 in May.  The Present Situation Index…

WASHINGTON – The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. reflects an economy growing slowly but building forward momentum. The key is continued progress in the housing market, reasonably strong job…

WASHINGTON – Sales of new single-family houses in May 2013 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 476,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor last week awarded grants totaling $20 million to provide job training for inmates aged 18 and older participating in state or local work-release programs. The…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $594,268 grant to assist about 130 workers impacted by the closure of Edward Jones Mortgage LLC offices in Minneapolis and suburban St….

WASHINGTON – Congress should consider redefining the new ability-to-repay requirements for Qualified Mortgages to avoid limiting affordable borrowing options for creditworthy buyers, said the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday in testimony…

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that in the week ending June 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted unemployment insurance claims was 354,000in hte U.S., an increase of…

WASHINGTON (June 20, 2013) – Existing-home sales improved in May and remain solidly above a year ago, while the median price continued to rise by double-digit rates from a year earlier, according…

Washington, DC  — The level of commercial/multifamily mortgage debt outstanding decreased by $4.9 billion, or 0.2 percent, in the first quarter of 2013, the first quarterly decrease since the third quarter of…

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Mortgage applications decreased 3.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 14, 2013….

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in May suggests that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Labor market conditions have shown further improvement in recent months,…

DEERFIELD, Ill., June 19, 2013 – Walgreens (NYSE: WAG) (Nasdaq: WAG), the nation’s largest drugstore chain, together with Chicago-based solar developer SoCore Energy, today said they will build more than 200 new…

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Terry Branstad today issued the following statement upon learning of the passing of Kum & Go co-founder Bill Krause: “Bill Krause was a great Iowa entrepreneur. He built…

WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) — More U.S. home builders viewed business conditions favorably than unfavorably for the first time in more than seven years in June, a trade group said. The National…

NEW YORK, June 17 (UPI) — A monthly survey of U.S. economists found concern the Federal Reserve would adjust monetary policy based on inaccurate growth projections. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday…

WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) — The U.S. federal and Arkansas governments said they filed a joint enforcement action against Exxon Mobil for the March rupture of the Pegasus oil pipeline. About 5,000…