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Retail Sales Up A Surprising 0.6% In June After A May Pullback By Consumers

WASHINGTON (AP) — After an earlier pullback, consumers picked up their spending in June despite anxiety over tariffs and the state of the U.S. economy. Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.6% in June after declining 0.9% in May, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Sales in April fell 0.1%, pulled down by a steep drop in auto sales, after Americans ramped up their car-buying in March to get ahead of President Donald Trump’s 25% duty on imported cars and car parts. Excluding autos and automotive parts, sales rose 0.5%, according to the Commerce Department. There was ...

Weaknesses Masked

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. labor market delivered another upside surprise last month, churning out a surprisingly strong 147,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked down unexpectedly, too. But the headline numbers masked some weaknesses as the U.S. economy contends with fallout from ...

Slowdown In Hiring Hurts College Grads

WASHINGTON (AP) — While completing a master’s degree in data analysis, Palwasha Zahid moved from Dallas to a town near Silicon Valley. The location made it easy to visit the campuses of tech stalwarts such as Google, Apple, and Nvidia. Zahid, 25, completed her studies in December, but so far she hasn’t found a job in the industry that surrounds her. “It stings a little bit,” she said. “I never imagined it would be this difficult just to get a foot in the door.” Young people graduating from college this spring and summer are facing one of the toughest job markets in ...

Near-Retirees Should Focus On What They Can Control

You just retired (or are about to). Now what? Your take-control toolkit involves strategies for spending, investing, Social Security, and taxes. If there’s a single group of people who are likely to be experiencing the most consternation over recent market events, it’s those who have just retired or who are on the cusp of hanging it up. But as with most things in life, the key for new- and near-retirees making it through this period with their sanity intact is to focus on what they can control. ASSESS SPENDING RATE People who have just retired or are about to do so are ...

A New Chapter

The Basket Company, a longtime Chautauqua County business known for its gourmet nut mixes, locally made chocolates and nostalgic candies, is relocating to a larger, modern facility at 4718 Cramer Drive, Ashville. The expansion marks a new chapter in the company’s growth and rebranding ...