Finance Globe

New jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week to 465,000, up 12,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 453,000, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. The four week moving average, which smooths out weekly volatility, was 463,250 - a decrease of 3,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 466,500. The national insured unemployment rate was little changed for the week ending September 11 at 3.5%, down slightly from the prior week’s revised rate of 3.6%....

The poverty rate in the U.S. rose to 14.3% in 2009 - its highest level in fifteen years, the Census Bureau reported on Thursday. Up from 13.2% in 2008, this was the second statistically significant increase in the country’s poverty rate since 2004.Defined as an income level of $21,954 or less for a family of four, poverty struck 43.6 million people in 2009, up from 39.8 million in 2008. This makes the third year in a...

American consumers are keeping big spending in check by putting off buying cars, furniture, electronics, and appliances, but the back-to-school season fueled the second monthly retail sales increase in a row and slightly beat analysts’ expectations.Following a revised .3% increase in July, retail sales in August rose .4% to $363.7 billion, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. Excluding the data for automobile sales, parts dealers, and gasoline stores, sales rose .5%.Retail trade sales are 3.7% above...

American consumers have been responsibly managing their checking accounts and keeping the costs of banking to a minimum.Most bank customers paid no overdraft fees over the past year, according to a report released on Wednesday by the American Bankers Association (ABA).A survey of 1,000 bank customers found that 77% paid no overdraft fees in the previous twelve months, and 21% paid for one or more overdrafts. 2% of consumers said they weren’t sure.Of those who had...

Consumers will soon be protected from paying advance fees to telemarketing companies who promise to help alleviate debt problems, the Federal Trade Commission reported on Thursday.The FTC’s new rules apply to for-profit companies that sell their services over the phone, and also extends the Telemarketing Sales Rule to apply to inbound calls from consumers when consumers respond to advertising by the debt-relief companies. Credit counseling, debt settlement, and debt negotiation companies that aim to reduce consumers’...

Americans have been working hard to keep their debts paid on time - bringing down the rate of consumer loan delinquencies for the third straight quarter, according to a report released on Wednesday by the American Bankers Association (ABA).In the eight closed-end loan categories tracked by the ABA’s Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin, the rate of delinquencies fell to 2.89% of all accounts in the first quarter of 2010 from 3.19% in the previous quarter. The ABA...

The unemployment rate edged down from 9.7% to 9.5% despite the economy losing 125,000 jobs in June, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday.Temporary Census jobs coming to an end represented a decrease of 225,000 workers, while 83,000 positions were added in the private sector - leaving the U.S. with an estimated 14.6 million unemployed.But a decrease in the unemployment rate can also reflect that there are simply fewer people in the...

After consistently rising for three straight months, consumer confidence in June is sharply down amid worries of the job market, the Conference Board reported on Tuesday.The index used to measure consumer confidence dropped from 62.7 in May to 52.9 this month, with a benchmark of 100 in 1985. Only 8% of consumers polled by the Conference Board thought that business conditions were good, compared to 9.7% the month before; 42.4% in June thought business conditions were...

It has become second-nature for consumers to diligently safe-guard their personal information to prevent identity theft and credit card fraud.We shred our sensitive financial documents before throwing them out, we're learning to not be duped by calls or emails claiming to be an organization that needs our social security number or other important imformation, and we know to pick up our mail in a timely manner to prevent theives from stealing credit card and bank statements...

The Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada - the five states hurt most by the housing downturn - can begin to use the $1.5 billion in the Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets ("The Hardest Hit Fund")."These states have identified a number of innovative programs that will make a real difference in the lives of many homeowners facing foreclosure," said Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial...