Economy, Midwest | featured news

The pace of business activity in the U.S. Midwest rose to its highest level in nearly a year in February as new orders increased, a report showed on Thursday.

U.S. consumer spending rose in August as households stretched to pay for higher gasoline prices and factory activity in the Midwest contracted this month for the first time in three years, pointing to lackluster economic growth.

President Barack Obama will on Tuesday announce fresh steps to boost rural hiring on the second day of a bus tour through the U.S. heartland to explain his economic and job policies to anxious voters.

The president embarked on a three-day bus tour of Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota designed to underscore his resolve to lift the nation out of its morass.