That’s the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index for the week ended May 12. The index, which is based on Americans’ opinions about the economy, the buying climate and their own finances, fell from minus 29.5 in the prior week. It can...
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Photograph by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
Customers shop at a Macy's Inc. store in New York.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: -30.2
Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Construction crews work on new homes being built in San Ramon, California, on April 12, 2013.
Building Permits Dwarf Ground-Breaking
Applications to build homes climbed in April to the highest level since June 2008, helping alleviate concern that a slump the same month in construction starts on new houses would mean less support for the economy in the second half...
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Photograph by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg
A customer browses shoes at a Coach Inc. store in New York.
Payroll Tax Cut Most Paychecks: Survey
The outlook for consumer spending may hinge on what 55 percent of American households do next. That’s the share of respondents who noticed their paychecks had gotten smaller at the start of the year when the payroll tax reverted to...
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Photograph by Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg
The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Staycations Yield to Vegas, Margaritaville: Sure Rebound Signs
DJ Steve Aoki sprayed champagne on attendees before selecting some to surf the crowd on an inflatable raft during opening week of the Hakkasan night club in Las Vegas last month. The five-story, $100 million-plus addition to the MGM Grand...
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Photograph by Kristian Helgesen/Bloomberg
Maersk Line, the world's biggest container shipping company, will stop plying through the Panama Canal to move goods from Asia to the U.S. east coast as bigger ships help the company move it profitably through Suez Canal.
Import Prices: Disinflation Concern
To anyone worried about global disinflation, today’s Labor Department report on the cost of goods imported into the U.S. will prove sobering. The import-price index dropped 0.5 percent in April from the prior month as fuel costs retreated 1.7 percent....
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Pedestrians carrying shopping bags cross the street in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Consumer Spending Off to Unexpected Good Start
Americans shopped for more clothing, electronics and sporting goods and frequented more restaurants in April, leading to an unexpected 0.1 percent gain in total receipts, according to a Commerce Department report. Economists today raised tracking estimates for consumer spending for the...
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Photograph by Ryan Anson/Bloomberg
Two of four 1,060-foot catwalks connect to the 525-foot main tower from the eastern end of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Jerry Brown Channels Forrest Gump
So dozens of over-sized bolts built into the soon-to-be-opened $6.4 billion San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge snapped when they were tightened earlier this year. What does California Gov. Jerry Brown have to say about it? “Look, s— happens,” Brown said when...
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Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Job seekers wait in line to meet with employers at the 25th Annual CUNY big Apple Job and Internship Fair at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on April 26, 2013 in New York City.
Consumer Confidence Up — Not in Jobs
Consumer confidence in the U.S. improved in April, reaching a five-month high, a report from the Conference Board showed today. Chalk up a good portion of the elation to gains in wealth from improving property values and stock portfolios. In...
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Photograph by Nati Harnik/AP Photo
Employees load a washer and dryer into customer's car at the loading docks of Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha, Neb.
Bloomberg by the Numbers: 2.5%
That’s the annualized rate at which the U.S. economy grew in the first quarter, according to an estimate by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The figure refers to the rise in the gross domestic product — the value...
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Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg
A welder welding the frame of a modular housing unit at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
Behind the Growth: Manufacturing Lags
The lower-than-expected reading this morning for U.S. economic growth in the first quarter has revealed a few victims even as growth picked up — among them, factories. “Manufacturing activity remains weak relative to the larger economy,” in part due...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
