Stocks are opening sharply lower after the government said businesses added the fewest jobs in June in more than a year. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. Employers created only 18,000 jobs last month, a fraction of what economists ...

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WASHINGTON — Fixed mortgage rates rose this week by the most in four months. The average rate on the 30-year loan increased to 4.60 percent, up from 4.51 percent a week ago, Freddie Mac said Thursday. It hit its lowest ...

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WASHINGTON — The number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose sharply in May. But the influx of spring buyers wasn’t enough to signal a rebound in the struggling housing market. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday ...

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NEW YORK — A private research group is reporting that U.S. consumers’ confidence declined to a seven-month low as job worries increased. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 58.5 in June, down from a revised 61.7 in May. ...

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WASHINGTON — Fewer people bought new homes last month, the latest sign that the struggling housing market won’t rebound this year. New-home sales fell 2.1 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 319,000 homes, the Commerce Department ...

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WASHINGTON — Builders broke ground on more new homes in May, but not enough to signal a recovery in the troubled housing market. New-home construction rose 3.5 percent from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 560,000 units per ...

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WASHINGTON — The outlook among U.S. homebuilders has been grim all year. This month, it became grimmer. An index that measures builders’ sentiment for their industry fell three points in June to 13, the National Association of Home Builders said ...

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WASHINGTON — It’s Ben Bernanke’s turn to assess how much the economy has weakened. Investors have pushed stock prices lower for four straight days in response to data showing weaker hiring in May, falling home prices and a drop in ...

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WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but applications remain stuck at a level that signals weak job growth. The number of applications for unemployment benefits dropped by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 422,000, the Labor Department ...

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WASHINGTON — The best month for private-sector hiring in five years and a pickup in summer jobs helped lower unemployment rates in more than 90 percent of the nation’s largest cities in April. The unemployment rate dropped in 339 metro ...

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