SINTRA, Portugal (Reuters) -The U.S. central bank still needs more data before cutting interest rates to ensure that recent weaker inflation readings give a true picture of what is happening to underlying price pressures, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday. Data for May showed the Fed's preferred measure of inflation did not increase at all that month, while...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job openings increased in May after posting outsized declines in the prior two months, but layoffs picked up amid slowing economic activity. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 221,000 to 8.140 million on the last day of May, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. construction spending unexpectedly fell in May as higher mortgage rates depressed single-family homebuilding, and recovery is likely to be muted by improving housing supply. The Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Monday that construction spending dipped 0.1% after an upwardly revised 0.3% increase in April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending rebounding 0.2% after...

10:58 AM EDT, 07/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Hiring by small businesses in the US decelerated in June on a monthly basis, while hourly earnings growth remained unchanged, data released Tuesday by Paychex ( PAYX ) showed. The jobs index came in at 100.29 in June, versus 100.58 in May and 101.37 last year, according to the Paychex Small Business Employment...