Economy keeps growing, expanding at a 2.1% rate
The U.S. economy grew at a 2.1% annual pace from April through June, extending its sturdy performance in the face of higher interest rates, the government said Thursday, leaving its previous estimate unchanged.
The second-quarter expansion of the nation's gross domestic product — its total output of goods and services — marked a modest deceleration from the economy's 2.2% annual growth from January through March.
Consumer spending, business investment and state and local government outlays drove the second-quarter economic expansion.
The economy and job market have shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates to combat inflation, which last year hit a four-decade high. The Fed has raised its benchmark rate 11 times since March 2022, sparking concerns that ever-higher borrowing rates will trigger a recession.
So far, though, inflation has eased without causing much economic pain, raising hopes that the central bank can pull off a so-called soft landing — slowing the economy enough to conquer high inflation without causing a painful recession.
Still, those higher rates have taken a toll. Consumer spending, for example, rose at an annual rate of just 0.8% from April through June, down sharply from the government's previous estimate of 1.7% and the weakest such figure since the first quarter of 2022.
But business investment excluding housing, a closely watched barometer, rose at a 7.4% annual pace, the fastest rate in more than a year. And state and local government spending and investment jumped 4.7%, the biggest such quarterly gain since 2019.
No more Netflix red envelopes
The curtain finally has come down on Netflix's once-iconic DVD-by-mail service.
A quarter century ago, two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs came up with a concept that obliterated Blockbuster video stores and provided a springboard into video streaming that has transformed entertainment.
The DVD service shut down after its five remaining distribution centers in California, Texas, Georgia and New Jersey mail out their final discs Friday.
The fewer than 1 million recipients who still subscribe to the DVD service will be able to keep the final discs that land in their mailboxes.
Some of the remaining DVD die-hards will get up to 10 discs as a going away present from a service that boasted as many as 16 million subscribers. That was before Netflix made the pivotal decision in 2011 to separate the DVD side business from a streaming business that now boasts 238 million subscribers and generated $31.5 billion in revenue year.
The DVD service, in contrast, brought in just $146 million in revenue last year.
Biden visits UAW picket line
President Joe Biden joined United Auto Workers strikers on their picket line Tuesday in a demonstration of support for organized labor apparently unparalleled in presidential history.
“You deserve the significant raise you need,” Biden said through a bullhorn while wearing a union baseball cap after arriving at a General Motors parts distribution warehouse located in a suburb west of Detroit.
He walked along the picket line, exchanging fist bumps with grinning workers.
Biden encouraged them to continue fighting for better wages despite concerns that a prolonged strike could damage the economy, saying “stick with it.”
Union leaders are hoping to negotiate a 30% raise for workers.
Target announced that it will close nine store in four states, including three in San Francisco that have experienced crime.
Target closing some state stores
Target — citing organized retail thefts and the threat such thefts often bring to their staff and customers — said Tuesday that the retailer will cease operations at high-profile Target stores in Oakland, Pittsburg and San Francisco.
The last day those stores will be open is Oct. 20.
Target officials specifically mentioned the ongoing problem of organized retail theft and the threat that thefts large and small have presented to their guests as the reason for the closures.
The company also announced the closure of stores in New York City, Seattle and Portland, Oregon. Nine stores were closed in total; Target officials pointed out that they maintained dozens of other stores in each of those major markets.