Obama Preps Final State Of the Union
Washington — President Obama will deliver his final State of the Union address on Tuesday night to a nation whose economy is far sturdier than it was when he took office in 2009. Yet as 2016 begins, the stout job market is accompanied by tepid economic growth and stubbornly flat wages. More broadly, two things are on the rise, to the president’s dismay: global temperatures and Americans’ concerns about terrorism. A snapshot of the...
Sugar Prices Projected to Rise Because of El Nino
New York — After four bitter years, sugar mills can look forward to sweeter prospects in 2016. Prices have rebounded 52 percent since reaching a seven-year low in August. Raw-sugar futures traded in New York are heading for a 6 percent gain for the year, their first annual advance since 2010. The market has finally swung to a supply deficit after years of surpluses. And the commodity will keep rising through the first quarter of next...
City Property Values Point to Wealth Divide Within U.S. Cities
Washington — It’s still possible in Boston for a mail carrier, an accountant and a Harvard-trained psychiatrist — basically, the crowd from Cheers — to live as neighbors. That finding by the real estate brokerage Redfin makes the capital of Massachusetts a rarity at a time when neighborhoods in most U.S. cities are increasingly isolated from each other by income and home values. Redfin analyzed home sales over the past 24 months in 20...
4 Ways Football Helps Make Americans Poor
The National Football League is one of the richest sports organizations on the planet. The league earns about $10 billion each year, and its leaders project that number to rise to $25 billion by 2027. Although lucrative licensing, advertising and media deals fuel the NFL money machine, in the end it’s the NFL’s legions of loyal fans who are responsible for the organization’s fortune. They fill the stadiums, host viewing parties and...
The Economy: Both Weakness And Strength
Washington — The U.S. job market no longer looks quite so robust. Employers added a meager 142,000 jobs in September, the government said Friday. And the average job gain for each of the past three months — 167,000 — is well below the 231,000 average for the previous three. All of which renews doubts about a job market in which steady hiring and the consumer spending it drives were expected to fuel continued healthy economic growth....
