Economic Crisis, Recession | featured news

Sperm banks and donor agencies say the recession is prompting a surge in calls from people who hope to make money by donating ...

A severe U.S. recession will bottom out this year, but any recovery will be weak due to anemic markets and shrunken consumer wealth, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Wednesday.

New U.S. housing starts and permits surged in May from record lows, while producer prices rose at a slower pace despite higher gasoline prices, boosting prospects for the economy's recovery from recession.

The number of newly laid-off Americans filing jobless claims fell more than expected last week and retail sales grew in May for the first time in three months, fresh evidence that the worst of the recession may have past.

The economy’s decline in the quarter was not quite as bad as the government originally believed, kindling hope that the economy could resume growing by the end of 2009.

Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., a global giant in women’s fiction, reported fourth-quarter earnings up 32 percent over the same period a year earlier, with U.S. retail sales up 9 percent in 2008.

The U.S. trade deficit rose in March for the first time since last July as the global recession cut sharply into sales of American exports. The politically sensitive deficit with China increased.

The economy lost 539,000 jobs in April, the government reported on Friday, a sign that the relentless pace of job losses was starting to level off.

The rich feel the pain of the recession, too. Sort of. On paper, Augustine Fou would seem to have little to fear. He and his wife earn around $400,000 a year. He has a solid marketing job and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The government reported that gross domestic product shrank at a 6.1 percent annual rate, worse than economists expected, dampening hopes that the slowdown was easing.