As unemployment continues to fall and employers scramble to find the workers they need, demographic groups that traditionally lag economically are benefiting. The unemployment rate for African-Americans fell to 7.1 percent in June, just shy of the all-time low of 7 percent hit in April 2000. Unemployment rates for young people and those with a […]

There’s a sharp division in the Republican Party between libertarians, who believe in free markets without government interference, and more mainline, pro-business Republicans, who want the government to intervene in markets to help U.S. businesses. The latest example of this? The Export-Import Bank, which provides loans to foreign businesses or governments so they can buy U.S. […]

The White House is planning to investigate China for unfair trade practices — specifically over intellectual property, or IP. U.S. companies that want to do business in China often have to turn over their IP in order to do so — plans, blueprints and technical specifications. The longstanding allegation is that Chinese companies then steal […]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 22,000 for the first time today, thanks in part to strong corporate profits. But while all eyes are on the Dow, less attention is being paid to another measure of the U.S. economy: the strength of the dollar. The greenback has dropped 10 percent since January. Why? And what […]

Earnings season is well underway, and so far corporate profits for the second quarter have been pretty good. Surprisingly good, actually. Of the companies in the S&P 500 index that have reported results so far, most have exceeded analysts’ expectations. Plenty of earnings news is still to come, including reports tomorrow from biggies like Apple, […]

With the drama around health care refusing to die, legislators already have begun the next big policy effort on the Hill: tax reform. Congressional Republican leaders last week laid out what they want — permanent tax reductions is what it boils down to. And conservative organizations and grassroots groups are getting ready to blast Congress […]

Tomorrow , the Senate subcommittee that oversees the EPA’s Superfund program is scheduled to hold a hearing on the program’s work. That’s the initiative, begun in 1980, that cleans up sites contaminated with hazardous materials. Under EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, the agency is refocusing its attention toward environmental cleanups. But that doesn’t necessarily mean many […]