The U.S. economy is showing signs of bouncing back and, if it does, look for drugmakers and medical-device companies to benefit. But if the economy has another summer stall like last year, expect health insurers to benefit.
The Labor Department said Friday that employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009.
The year started with a sense that slowly—not fast enough for anyone’s liking—but steadily, Indiana’s economy was coming back. But then a spike in gas prices and the never-ending sovereign debt crisis in Europe created a summer of setbacks.
The Dow Jones industrial average surged 337 points following encouraging signs out of Europe and a jump in apartment construction in the U.S. It was the best day for U.S. stocks this month.
The state’s unemployment rate held steady in November at a seasonally adjusted 9 percent, slightly higher than the overall U.S. rate that dropped to 8.6 percent, the state’s Department of Workforce Development said Tuesday morning.
Republican candidate for governor Jim Wallace says Indiana can boost start its economy by spending $500 million on infrastructure and new tax credits for business.
Employers added a net total of 120,000 jobs last month. The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row — the first time that has happened since April 2006.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the July-September quarter, lower than an initial 2.5-percent estimate made last month. The government also said after-tax incomes fell by the largest amount in two years.
Economists from the Kelley School of Business predict the national economy will grow a modest 2.5 percent to 3 percent next year, while unemployment will remain high.
Buoyed by a resurgent consumer and strong business investment, the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the July-September quarter. The modest expansion followed anemic growth in the first half of the year
In order to get the U.S. economy to grow at a respectable 3-percent annual rate, the government needs to get a grip on the debt crisis while corporations needs to start spending the money they've stockpiled.
A Riley Hospital for Children doctor is launching a training center for a national anti-poverty program called Circles, which matches poor people with middle-class “allies.” The idea is that people find their own way out of poverty by expanding their personal networks to include the middle class.
Despite President Barack Obama's exhortations, the Senate prepared to swiftly kill his jobs package Tuesday and the White House and congressional leaders were already moving on to other ways to cut the nation's painfully high unemployment without raising taxes.
The burst of hiring followed a sluggish summer for the economy—and at least temporarily calms fears of a new recession that have hung over Wall Street and the nation for weeks.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Elkhart County saw its employment increase 6.2 percent from March 2010 to March 2011.
The three Indiana cities had among the largest 2010 increases in the U.S. in the value of goods and services they produce.
The U.S. economy grew slightly faster in the spring than previously estimated but remained dangerously weak in the face of high unemployment and higher gas prices.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level in three months, another sign that the job market remains depressed.
Stocks fell Tuesday morning after consumer confidence dropped to the lowest level since April 2009. Retailers and other companies that depend on consumer spending had the steepest losses.
As the national economy sputters, the Indianapolis area is losing jobs faster than its peers, falling to levels not seen since 2002.
