Tag Archives: Commerce Department

Yahoo Finance reports: Inflation showed continued signs of cooling off in February but remained stubbornly high and well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target in the year’s second month, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Tuesday morning. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) revealed headline inflation rose 0.4% over last month and 6% over the …

Reuters reports: The Biden administration on Friday added six Chinese entities connected to Beijing’s suspected surveillance balloon program to an export blacklist. The new restrictions come after the White House said it would consider broader efforts to “expose and address” China’s larger surveillance activities that threaten U.S. national security and allies. The Commerce Department said the five companies and one …

The New York Times reports: Economic growth remained solid at the end of last year as the strong job market and cooling inflation allowed Americans to keep spending despite fears of a recession. U.S. gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, increased at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That …

Bloomberg News reports: The US economy shrank for a second straight quarter, raising chances of a recession, as decades-high inflation undercut consumer spending and Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes stymied business investment and housing demand. Gross domestic product fell at a 0.9% annualized rate after a 1.6% decline in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department’s preliminary estimate …

Bloomberg News reports: The U.S. Commerce Department released a report this week on proposed auto tariffs that the Trump administration refused to make public. The agency, under former President Donald Trump, kept the 2019 document private and was sued for holding back the information. The DOJ in January 2020 said the White House could use executive privilege to decline its …

The Washington Post reports: An obscure security unit tasked with protecting the Commerce Department’s officials and facilities has evolved into something more akin to a counterintelligence operation that collected information on hundreds of people inside and outside the department, a Washington Post examination found. The Investigations and Threat Management Service (ITMS) covertly searched employees’ offices at night, ran broad keyword …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Household income rose at a record pace of 21.1% in March as federal-stimulus checks helped fuel an economic revival that is poised to endure with an easing pandemic. The surge in income last month was the largest monthly increase for government records tracing back to 1959, reflecting $1,400 stimulus checks and other government aid included …

The Wall Street Journal reports: The U.S. economy expanded rapidly in the first quarter, growing at a 6.4% annual rate and extending what economists project will be a robust, consumer-led recovery from the pandemic this year. The jump in U.S. gross domestic product in the first three months of the year, reported by the Commerce Department on Thursday, put the …

Axios reports: The Senate voted 84-15 on Tuesday to confirm Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to lead the Commerce Department. The agency promotes U.S. industry, oversees the Census Bureau, plays a key role in the government’s study of climate change through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and evaluates emerging technology through the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Raimondo, …

NPR reports: Saddled with delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic and last-minute changes by the Trump administration, the first set of 2020 census results will not be ready for release by Thursday’s year-end deadline for numbers that determine representation in Congress and the Electoral College for the next decade. Under federal law, the commerce secretary, who oversees the bureau, is …

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge has stopped the 2020 census from finishing at the end of September and ordered the once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident to continue for another month through the end of October, saying a shortened schedule likely would produce inaccurate results. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in California made her ruling late Thursday, …

Reuters reports: Popular video-sharing app TikTok has asked a U.S. judge to block the Trump administration from enforcing a ban on the Chinese social media network, according to court documents filed late on Friday. TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., filed a complaint in a Washington federal court challenging the recent prohibitory moves by the Trump administration. The U.S. …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Commerce Department said it will issue an order Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on September 20. Commerce officials said the ban on new U.S. downloads of TikTok could be still rescinded by President Donald Trump before it takes effect late Sunday …

CNBC reports: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross has been hospitalized due to health reasons not related to the coronavirus, according to a Commerce Department spokesperson. “Secretary Ross has been admitted into the hospital for minor, non-coronavirus related issues. He is doing well and we anticipate his release soon,” according to a statement NBC News obtained. Ross started working remotely …

Reuters reports: The U.S. economy maintained a moderate pace of growth in the fourth quarter, and again fell short of attaining the Trump administration’s coveted but elusive 3% annual growth target because of slumping business investment amid damaging trade tensions. The Commerce Department’s snapshot of gross domestic product on Thursday will show the Federal Reserve’s three interest rate cuts in …

NPR reports: President Trump is counting on a strong economy to help him win reelection next year. But new numbers from the Commerce Department show the economy lost steam during the summer and early fall. GDP — the broadest measure of economic activity — grew at an annual rate of just 1.9% during the third quarter. That’s a deceleration from …

Politico reports: Constant infighting among top officials. Sudden departures of senior staffers without explanation. A leader who is disengaged and prone to falling asleep in meetings. The Commerce Department has reached its apex of dysfunction under Wilbur Ross, according to four people with knowledge of the inner workings of the department. The 81-year-old Commerce secretary, who has for months endured …

The Associated Press reports: Civil rights lawyers sued the U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday to try to stop plans to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Manhattan federal court lawsuit on behalf of immigrants’ rights groups says racial animus was behind a recent announcement that the census will include a citizenship question for the first time since …

The New York Times reports: New figures released by the U.S. Department of Commerce show a drop in international visitors to the United States by close to 700,000 in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the previous year. European countries were down 10.1 percent, and Mexico was off 7.1 percent in the quarter. The largest drops were from the …

The Washington Post reports: The Commerce Department has removed language from its annual equal opportunity statement barring discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, prompting a protest from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists. In a statement Thursday afternoon, the Commerce Department said the statement “was never intended to change the policy or exclude any protected categories.” “The Department …