October | featured news

The budget deficit rose in October, the first month of fiscal year 2013, as looming negotiations over expiring tax cuts and imminent spending reductions dominated the post-election political landscape.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in October to its lowest point of the year as Americans bought fewer foreign cars and imported less oil. Exports of American-made autos also fell.

Americans bought slightly more new homes in October, a hopeful sign for the troubled housing market. But the median sales price fell to its lowest level of the year, and the overall sales pace is trailing last year's - the worst in half a century.

Small businesses in the United States grew more confident in the economy's future for the second straight month during October as their outlook for business conditions improved, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

While the unemployment rate dipped to 9 percent, the improvement was seen as mediocre.

Consumers' confidence in the economy fell in October to the lowest it's been since 2009 when the U.S. was in the middle of a deep recession, according to a report released Tuesday by a private research group.

Health officials on Tuesday will unveil nine graphic warning labels showing harmful effects of smoking that must be on cigarette packages and in advertisements starting in October 2012.

U.S. single-family home prices fell for a fourth straight month in October pressured by a supply glut, home foreclosures and high unemployment, data from a closely watched survey showed on Tuesday.

The state added 39,000 jobs to payrolls in diverse sectors. Unemployment is still high in many counties.

The number of U.S. homes taken over by banks fell 9 percent in October as foreclosure processing was stalled by questionable paperwork, real estate data company RealtyTrac said on Thursday.