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WASHINGTON (AP) -- A drop in new jobless claims came in short of expectations and factory orders rose only slightly, fresh evidence the economy is recovering at a slow, uneven pace.

WASHINGTON -- Last year's $787 billion economic stimulus bill is going to be even more expensive -- $75 billion more. The new Congressional Budget Office estimate, released Tuesday, provides more ammunition for Republicans who say the stimulus has been long on spending and short on creating promised jobs. The additional cost also eats into the savings forecast from the budget freeze President Barack Obama is expected to propose Wednesday night during his State of the Union address. Almost half of the additional cost, $34 billion, is because the food stamp program won't be able to take advantage of lower-than-expected inflation...

Sales of previously occupied homes took their largest drop in more than 40 years last month yet managed to end 2009 with the first annual gain in four years. Still, prices plunged by more than 12 percent last year — the sharpest fall since the Great Depression. The price drop for 2009 — to a median of $173,500 — showed the housing market remains too weak to help fuel a sustained economic recovery. Total sales for 2009 were nearly 5.2 million, up about 5 percent from 2008. Last month's worse-than-expected showing underscores concerns that the housing market could weaken further...

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 482,000.

U.S. stock futures slid on Wednesday after reports showed new home construction fell far more than expected in December. ... Housing starts slid by 4.0% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 557,000 annual rate in December, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected starts would dip by 0.2% to an annual rate of 573,000. However, building permits in December jumped 10.9% to a 653,000 annual rate. Economists had expected permits to rise by 0.2% to a rate of 590,000. ... Wednesday's action comes after a stunning upset in Massachusetts, where Republican state...

WASHINGTON – Retail sales unexpectedly fell in December, leaving 2009 with the biggest yearly drop on record and highlighting the formidable hurdles facing the economy as it struggles to recover from the deepest recession in seven decades. In another disappointing economic report, the number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week as jobs remain scarce. Still, many economists, puzzled by the retail sales decline that follows reports from retailers of brighter holidays, cautioned that the December figures don't necessarily signal a big consumer pullback and could be a blip. SNIP---- Meanwhile, the number of...

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly fell in December following a bigger gain than previously estimated the prior month, highlighting the risk that the largest part of the economy will be slow to recover. The 0.3 percent decrease came after a 1.8 percent jump the prior month, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Other reports showed inventories rose more than forecast in November and jobless claims climbed last week. A jobless rate projected to average 10 percent this year, tight credit and depressed home values indicate halting improvement in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales unexpectedly fell in December, leaving 2009 with the biggest yearly drop on record and highlighting the formidable hurdles facing the economy as it struggles to recover from the deepest recession in seven decades. In another disappointing economic report, the number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week as jobs remain scarce. Still, many economists, puzzled by the retail sales decline that follows reports from retailers of brighter holidays, cautioned that the December figures don't necessarily signal a big consumer pullback and could be a blip. Taking November and December...

Retail sales fell in December as demand for autos, clothing and appliances all slipped, a disappointing finish to a year in which sales had the largest drop on record. The weakness in consumer demand highlighted the formidable hurdles facing the economy as it struggles to recover from the deepest recession in seven decades. The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales declined 0.3 percent in December compared with November, much weaker than the 0.5 percent rise that economists had been expecting. Excluding autos, sales dropped by 0.2 percent, also weaker than the 0.3 percent rise analyst had forecast. For the...

<p>The number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week as jobs remain scarce amid a sluggish economic recovery.</p> <p>The Labor Department said Thursday new claims for unemployment insurance rose by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 444,000. Wall Street economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected an increase of only 3,000.</p>

WASHINGTON -- The number of newly laid-off workers requesting unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week as jobs remain scarce amid a sluggish economic recovery. The Labor Department said Thursday new claims for unemployment insurance rose by 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 444,000. Wall Street economists polled by Thomson Reuters expected an increase of only 3,000.

Restaurant joins handful of local eateries to recently shutter. Dolan's Restaurant in central Boulder was seized this week by state agents for unpaid taxes, and a handwritten sign on the door indicates the eatery has closed for good. Dolan's closure comes amid a spate of Boulder restaurants and cafes that recently have gone out of business. Within the past two weeks, Bimbamboo, Burnt Toast, Sidney's Coffee, Coffee Sanctuary and the b.side Lounge all shuttered. They join others such as Sunflower, the Scotch Corner Pub and Seven Eurobar, which also closed in late 2009. Starting a restaurant in a weak economy...

For a while, the Associated Press seemed determined to make “unexpected” and its variants the most overused term in economic reporting. Today, they give their readers an unexpected shock by dropping the forced sense of optimism normally used in giving bad economic news in their analysis of today’s jobless report. Instead, Christopher Rugaber reports the obvious — that the loss of 85,000 more jobs is nothing but bad news, and that the 10.0% figure hides the rot underneath: The reaction today from the White House suggests that they know the spin won’t hold. In the earlier report, Reuters finally admitted...

Pending home sales unexpectedly plunged in November, according to a report issued Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors, a big correction after several months of positive gains for a closely-watched indicator of housing market activity. According to the industry group, November pending home sales activity dropped by 16% to a reading of 96.0, compared with the previous month’s reading of 114.3. The drop was much larger than expected by Wall Street, which was looking for a dip of 2% for the indicator for November. It was the largest drop, point-wise, since the industry group started the index in 2001,...

(RTTNews) - New home sales unexpectedly showed a steep decline in the month of November, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday, with the report also showing a notable downward revision to sales in October. The report showed that new home sales fell 11.3 percent to an annual rate of 355,000 in November from the revised October rate of 400,000. Economists had expected sales to rise to 438,000 from the 430,000 originally reported for the previous month. With the unexpected decrease, new home sales in November were down 9.0 percent compared to the same month a...

WASHINGTON – Sales of new homes plunged unexpectedly last month to the lowest level since April, a sign the housing market recovery will be rocky. The 11 percent slump from October's pace shows that consumers are taking their time following an extension of a deadline for first-time buyers to qualify for a tax credit. The incentive was set to expire at the end of November, but Congress pushed back the date to April 30 and expanded the program to include current homeowners who relocate. "They don't have to act today," said David Crowe, chief economist at the National Association of...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of newly laid off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week as the recovery of the nation's battered labor market proceeds in fits and starts. The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of new jobless claims rose to 480,000 last week, up 7,000 from the previous week. That was a worse performance than the decline to 465,000 that economists had expected.

Orders for U.S. durable goods unexpectedly slipped 0.6% in October amid expectations for a 0.5% rise, while the previous month’s reading showed a 2.0% expansion from an initial forecast for a 1.0% increase. At the same time, durables excluding transports tumbled 1.3% after rising a revised 1.8% in September, and businesses may keep a lid on spending going into the following year as global trade conditions remain subdued.

U.S. Home Building Unexpectedly Slumps in October By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ New home construction slowed unexpectedly in October to the lowest level in six months, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, resurrecting fears that the housing market may be slow to recover. A separate report showed consumer prices inched upward in October, but not enough to make inflation a concern even as the dollar weakens and interest rates remain at historic lows. The data on home construction showed a decline in the rate of single- and multiple-family homebuilding, contributing to an overall decrease of 10.6 percent in housing starts from September....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes unexpectedly tumbled 3.6 percent in September in their first drop since March, but the inventory of new homes available at the end of the month shrank to the smallest in 27 years, government data showed on Wednesday. September single-family home sales totaled 402,000 units at an annual pace. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected new home sales to rise to a 440,000 unit annual pace from a revised 417,000 units in August, which was originally reported as 429,000 units. The median sales price rose in September to $204,800 from $199,900,...