Economic Development

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Durable goods orders buoyed by transportation sector

New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods surged in July on strong demand for transportation equipment, according to government data released on Wednesday, Reuters reported. A separate report indicated that sales in the public transit …

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Stocks up amid hopes for Fed action

Stocks surged today, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes up more than 2 percent, as buyers emerged before a highly anticipated address by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke later this week, Reuters reported.…

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Retailers brace for a weak second-half shopping season

Retailers’ slowest earnings growth since the last recession has them bracing for a weakened second half as the U.S. economy leaves consumers confronting the prospect of losing their jobs and a volatile stock market, Bloomberg …

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Democracy’s great, but what about Libyan oil?

Six months of civil war have left Libya’s oil industry in chaos, with fields that once pumped around 1.6 million barrels per day deserted and export terminals, pumping stations and pipelines damaged by fighting and …

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College dropouts cost the economy big bucks

Students who dropped out of college in the past decade cost the economy $4.5 billion in lost income and federal and state income taxes, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) said. The organization tracked 1.1 …

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Iowa unemployment steady

Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 6 percent in July, down from 6.2 percent for the same month one year ago, according to Iowa Workforce Development.


Employers have steadily added jobs in 2011, but …

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Construction up in half of states

Construction employment increased in 26 states between July 2010 and July 2011 and during the past month, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of state employment data released by the …

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Rural business continues to slump

The Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI), which ranges between 0 and 100, fell to 49.3 in August from July’s healthy 55.7.  This was the third straight month that the index declined and put the measure below …

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U.S. debt downgrade won’t significantly affect P&C insurers

Though it’s difficult to assess the long-term ramifications, in the short term, Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the United States’ credit rating will not adversely affect U.S. property-casualty insurers, according to the Insurance Information Institute.…

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Stock market in turmoil again

Stock prices dropped sharply today as newly released data fueled worries that the economy is weakening, and bank shares tumbled on fears that the European financial crisis could spread havoc to other parts of the …