Economy, Quarterly Earnings | featured news

U.S. manufacturing closed out its weakest quarter in three years this month and the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits held near two-month highs last week, suggesting the economic recovery is failing to gain traction.

The Swiss economy has long appeared to be surprisingly resilient to the economic downturn across Europe, but the latest statistics released Tuesday showed that Switzerland is slowing down together with the rest of Europe. After a strong first quarter, the economy contracted in the second because of falling exports to the euro zone, the Alpine country's biggest trade partner. Compared with a year earlier, the Swiss economy still managed to expand at a 0.5% pace, but it contracted 0.1% from the first quarter.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage-finance giants, this week reported some of their best quarterly results since the real estate collapse. On Wednesday, Fannie Mae posted second-quarter net income of $5.1 billion. That is up from $2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year and an improvement from a net loss of $2.9 billion in the second quarter of last year. Fannie requested no additional money from the Treasury and said it would pay a $2.9 billion dividend to taxpayers.

The Golden Arches are starting to lose some of their shine. McDonald's Corp. says a key revenue figure came in flat in July, its worst showing in more than nine years, as diners pulled back amid a rough economy. After years of outperforming rivals with a string of popular new items, the snag also suggests competition is intensifying for the world's biggest hamburger chain.

The American economy grew slower than predicted in the first quarter, as government spending cuts offset a pickup in consumer spending.

U.S. economic growth was slower than previously estimated in the third quarter on a sharp drop in healthcare spending.

The third quarter’s gross domestic product grew at a 2.0 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in a revised estimate, down from the previously estimated 2.5 percent.

FedEx scared markets in its first quarter earnings report, noting the global economy would slow and demand, particularly from Asia, would cool, putting downward pressure on the stock.

French economic growth ground to a halt in the second quarter, raising pressure on the government to cut spending and abolish tax breaks to convince turbulent financial markets it will deliver on debt reduction targets.

The weak economy is hitting Americans where they spend a lot of their free time: at the TV set. They're canceling or forgoing cable and satellite TV subscriptions in record numbers, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of the companies' quarterly earnings reports.