Americans stepped up their spending at retailers, restaurants, and auto dealers last month, a sign of consumer resilience as the holiday shopping season begins amid painfully high inflation and rising interest rates. The government said Wednesday that retail… Read More »US retail sales rose 1.3% last month, a sign of resilience

Establishing eligibility for the employee retention credit (ERC) by satisfying the business operations suspension test (suspension test) is similar to venturing into remote parts of the world: The payoff from a successful journey can be… Read More »Employee retention credit: Navigating the suspension test

Retirees often need to take cash out of retirement accounts to handle basic household expenses on a regular basis. If you have to make withdrawals in a declining market, there are strategies you can use to minimize… Read More »Taking Retirement Withdrawals in a Declining Market

Last week’s market rally was an across-the-board move higher in asset prices. Not only did the S&P 500 post a nearly 6% gain on the week, small-caps, Treasuries, and even gold (yes, gold!) delivered huge… Read More »New Bull Market or Another Bear Market Fakeout?

Economists see US inflation running hotter through next year than they did a month ago and recession odds continue to mount against a backdrop of rising borrowing costs. Projections for the personal consumption expenditures price… Read More »Economists See US Inflation Running Even Hotter Through Next Year

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard said the central bank should soon moderate the size of its interest-rate increases, signaling she favors slowing to a half-point hike as early as next month. “It will probably… Read More »Brainard says U.S. Fed should probably ‘soon’ slow pace of rate hikes

Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s top regulatory official, said Monday the U.S. central bank is watching for any stresses to the financial system amid a weakening economy and signaled that stiffer oversight of cryptocurrency is… Read More »Fed boosts focus on liquidity, other risks as the economy weakens: Barr

KEY POINTS The consumer price index rose less than expected in October, an indication that while inflation is still a threat to the U.S. economy, pressures could be starting to cool. The index, a broad-based… Read More »Consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, less than expected, as inflation eases

The Internal Revenue Service had 4.4 million unprocessed individual returns received this year as of Oct. 28, including the tax year 2021 returns and late-filed returns from the prior year, as IRS funding has become… Read More »IRS still coping with millions of unprocessed tax returns

The third-quarter corporate earnings season is wrapping up: We now have reports from about 450 of the S&P 500, or 90% of the index’s total membership. Results were mostly solid, with companies from Goldman Sachs… Read More »The 5 biggest takeaways from earnings season