WASHINGTON — Businesses added to their stockpiles in July for a 19th straight month and their sales increased by the most since March. The Commerce Department says business inventories rose 0.4 percent in July following a similar gain in June. ...

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NEW YORK — Wal-Mart is bringing back something its customers have been asking for since the Great Recession: layaway. The world’s largest retailer, which ditched the pay-as-you-go plans in 2006, is rolling out a holiday layaway plan from Oct. 17 ...

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NEW YORK — Parents have a new goal this back-to-school shopping season: Buy their kids the name brands they want without spending like it’s 2007. After the recession began in late 2007, cost-conscious consumers sought out the cheapest shirts and ...

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WASHINGTON — Service firms that employ 90 percent of the U.S. work force expanded at a slightly faster pace in August. But the sector remains too weak to help an economy that is barely growing and struggling to create jobs. ...

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CERNOBBIO, Italy — Business leaders and finance experts gathered in Italy offered a downbeat assessment of the global economy Friday — with several predicting another recession due to a calamitous cocktail of sluggish growth, eurozone dysfunction, and financial market volatility. ...

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WASHINGTON — Employers stopped adding jobs in August, an alarming setback for an economy that has struggled to grow and might be at risk of another recession. The government also reported that the unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent. It ...

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WASHINGTON — Worker productivity fell this spring more quickly than previously estimated and labor costs rose at a faster clip. The decline in worker output could mean that some companies need to hire if they want to meet growing demand. ...

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WASHINGTON— Consumer spending grew in July by 0.8 percent, the largest amount in five months. That followed a decline in June and helped ease fears that the U.S. economy is on the verge of another recession. Americans bought more cars ...

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy grew at a meager 1 percent annual pace this spring, a slower rate than previously estimated. The downward revision will likely increase fears that the economy is at risk of another recession. Fewer exports and ...

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WASHINGTON — The number of people seeking unemployment benefits rose last week. But it was pushed up by thousands of Verizon workers who were on strike. The Labor Department says weekly applications rose 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 417,000, the ...

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