Category: U.S. economy

Big Tech Bets, Cryptocurrencies Power 2020’s Top US Funds

NEW YORK—Outsized bets on large U.S. technology companies and emerging cryptocurrencies fueled the year’s top-performing U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded funds as the coronavirus pandemic upended global markets, while funds that bet on oil and gas companies fell nearly 100 percent, according to data from fund-tracker Morningstar. The year was a challenge like few others…


US Third-Quarter GDP Growth Revised Slightly Higher; Momentum Waning

WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy grew at a record pace in the third quarter, fueled by more than $3 trillion in pandemic relief, the government confirmed on Dec. 22, but appears to have lost momentum as the year draws to an end amid raging new COVID-19 cases and dwindling fiscal stimulus. The economy plunged into recession in…


US Lenders Score Small Business Relief, Accounting Help in Pandemic Package

WASHINGTON—The long-awaited nearly $900 billion U.S. pandemic aid package will help banks by boosting borrowers’ finances, easing a key small-business lending program’s rules and by granting accounting relief on deferred loan payments, lobbyists and analysts said. After months of partisan wrangling, the U.S. Congress over the weekend struck a deal on another pandemic aid package,…


US Shoppers Grab Last-Minute Holiday Gifts, Pick Up Online Orders In-Store

NEW YORK—Many U.S. holiday shoppers, wary of spending time in stores during the latest surge of COVID-19 cases and nervous about packages not arriving before Christmas, were on a mission on Saturday: snatch up last-minute gifts fast or pick up online purchases in-store. The “Super Saturday” before Christmas is traditionally the busiest day of the…