Consumer spending declines

In this Friday, Nov. 23, 2012 file photo, a cashier rings up a sale at a Sears store in Las Vegas. Consumer spending fell unexpectedly in April as incomes slowed. Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/05/30/3952820/consumer-spending-declines.html?sp=/99/170/#storylink=cpy WASHINGTON — Consumer spending unexpectedly fell in April after the biggest surge in almost five years as incomes slowed, a sign the largest part of the U.S....

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Japan tax hike lifts inflation to 23-year high

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's consumer prices rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier in April to the highest level since 1991, the government said Friday, largely due to a sales tax increase that is expected to dent growth this quarter. Other April data for the world's third-largest economy were largely in line with forecasts. Industrial production fell 2.5 percent from a year earlier and household spending sank 4.6 percent. Unemployment was 3.6 percent, the same as in March. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies aimed at ending a deflationary...

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A Pushback on Green Power

As renewable energy production has surged in recent years, opponents of government policies that have helped spur its growth have pushed to roll back those incentives and mandates in state after state. On Wednesday, they claimed their first victory, when Ohio lawmakers voted to freeze the phasing-in of power that utilities must buy from renewable energy sources. The bill, which passed the Ohio House of Representatives, 54 to 38, was expected to be signed into law by Gov. John R. Kasich, who helped negotiate its final draft. It stands in marked...

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Pilgrim’s Pride Makes a $6.4 Billion Proposal to Buy Hillshire Brands

Hillshire’s brands include Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, State Fair and Ball Park. When Hillshire Brands announced its intention this month to buy Pinnacle Foods for $4.3 billion, analysts and investors scratched their heads over the wisdom of the combination. But another company — Pilgrim’s Pride, a huge producer of poultry — saw an opportunity. Pilgrim’s Pride offered on Tuesday to pay $6.4 billion for Hillshire, including the assumption...

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L'Affaire Piketty

On Friday, the Financial Times published allegations by its economics editor Chris Giles that Thomas Piketty’s wealth inequality data in his heralded Capital in the Twenty-First Century gives a suspiciously skewed impression of trends and cross-national rankings. I will confess that I clicked on the link full of schadenfreude; I believe that Piketty’s book is irresponsibly speculative, that his inequality estimates sometimes...

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Russian Gas Reliance in Europe Skewing Sanctions Debate

While tacitly acknowledging that Russia would suffer from cutting off energy supplies to the rest of Europe, Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said last week that industrywide sanctions will never happen because “our partners will suffer also, especially when it comes to Europe, which is very much dependent on the energy supply from Russia.” Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg European leaders, while calling Ukraine’s May 25 presidential...

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