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...

AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are working on a program that could make smartphones a source of payment - taking the place of credit and debit cards, according to a report released last week by Bloomberg.It’s reported that a pilot project is planned for stores in Atlanta and three other U.S. cities, where consumers can pay by simply waving their smartphone in front of a reader. No date has been set for when the project will commence,...

Refund anticipation loans (RALs) have always been a bad idea for taxpayers due to the high cost of getting a tax refund only a few days sooner than if the taxpayer had efiled and opted for direct deposit.But that cost can become even higher for the 2011 tax year - the Internal Revenue Service announced last week that starting next tax season it will no longer provide taxpayer information known as the “debt indicator” to tax...

Are you juggling payments on high-interest credit cards and wondering how to finally get ahead of your debts? A popular offer with both card holders and card issuers is a balance transfer to a 0% introductory rate credit card. These offers are typically for new applicants with excellent credit history and usually last anywhere from six to 18 months. When the introductory period is up, the remaining balance will begin to accrue the normal purchase interest...

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...