Shoppers give the economy a boost Shoppers give the economy a boost ADVERTISING Associated Press NEW YORK — Shoppers showed some spending muscle in July, once summer clearance sales and the hottest July in 50 years got them in the
Shoppers give the economy a boost
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Shoppers showed some spending muscle in July, once summer clearance sales and the hottest July in 50 years got them in the mood.
Solid sales reports from retailers Thursday took some of the sting out of weak June manufacturing data. And improving trends in unemployment benefit applications provide hope for slightly better job growth in coming months a day before the government reports on July employment.
U.S. retailers reported better-than-expected July revenue in stores open at least a year, an encouraging sign at the beginning of the back-to-school season, the second-biggest shopping season behind the holidays.
A preliminary compilation by the International Council of Shopping Centers of 20 retailers found revenue in stores open at least a year rose 4.6 percent in July, higher than the 3 percent to 3.5 percent the ICSC expected. Economists watch the numbers because consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. The figures are a key measure of retailers’ health because they exclude newly opened and closed stores.
Analysts said it was a positive sign that Americans hit the mall, undaunted by the fact that there are few signs that the economy is improving.
Mistrial averted in Peterson case
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A judge said Thursday that he believed Drew Peterson could receive a fair trial in his murder case, but not before chiding prosecutors for entering inadmissible evidence and criticizing them in front of jurors.
Testimony resumed with several paramedics and a locksmith shortly after the resolution of the in-court legal drama, which came close to ending the high-profile trial before it had barely begun.
Peterson, 58, is charged with first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was found in a dry bathtub. He also is a suspect in the 2007 disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, but has never been charged in her case.
Judge Edward Burmila on Thursday morning instructed jurors about the testimony that prompted the impasse the day before — a witness who told them that he found a bullet in his driveway and believed Peterson put it there to intimidate him.
In unusually blunt judicial language, he told the jurors that a prosecutor had asked a question Wednesday “she knew would elicit an inadmissible response” from the witness, Thomas Pontarelli, a former neighbor of Savio’s.
Warnings ignored in Solyndra loan
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans investigating the government’s investment in a bankrupt solar panel manufacturer have concluded that the Obama administration ignored numerous red flags about the company’s financial viability, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than $500 million.
For months, Republican lawmakers have made the government’s loan to California-based Solyndra Inc. the centerpiece of their criticisms of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package. The release of the report Thursday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee gave them another opportunity to reinforce that message.
The White House countered that the report showed that none of the accusations the GOP had made about political interference in approving the loan turned out to be true. Democrats on the committee also released a memorandum taking issue with the findings.
“The Republican report is partisan and one-sided. It does not substantiate the primary allegation that motivated the committee’s Solyndra investigation, which is that the loan guarantee decision was a form of political payoff to a campaign contributor,” the memo said.
General Motors’ profit falls 41%
DETROIT (AP) — The engine that powers General Motors is running rough. And if the company doesn’t tune it up soon, GM’s comeback from bankruptcy is in danger of stalling.
The Detroit automaker said Thursday that its second-quarter net profit fell 41 percent on a big loss in Europe. And there are signs that North America, GM’s main income source, also is slowing. Profits there have fallen for two straight quarters, the first time that’s happened since the company left bankruptcy in 2009.
The results are another sign that the U.S. auto industry, a bright spot in the economy for two years, is heading into a rough patch.
GM’s profit from April through June dropped to $1.5 billion, $1 billion less than the same quarter a year earlier. It had a $361 million pretax loss in Europe and $19 million of red ink in South America.
