Finance

Nordstrom opened a new store in Manhattan on Thursday — without any merchandise. Instead, the store offers services like tailoring and allows customers to pick up or return items, including online orders from any retailer. The push to open these local hubs comes as Nordstrom, like many department stores, is trying to reinvent itself as […]

U.S. and Chinese envoys will meet in early October for more talks aimed at ending a tariff war that threatens global economic growth. Stock markets rose on Thursday’s announcement but there has been no sign of progress since Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed in June to resume deadlocked negotiations about trade and technology.

U.S. long-term mortgage rates fell this week, with the average on the key 30-year loan reaching its lowest point in nearly three years. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year mortgage declined to 3.49% from 3.58% last week. The average rate hasn’t been that low since October 2016. A year

U.S. services expanded at a stronger pace in August, driven by an uptick in business activity and new orders. The Institute for Supply Management, an association of purchasing managers, says that its non-manufacturing index rose to 56.4 from 53.7 in July after two months of cooler growth. Readings above 50 signal growth. Services make up

We continued to work, to raise our two sons and to try to have our normal family routine while going through this difficult journey of seeing the best parents in the world slowly die. I had to resign in 2016 to take care of mom. Lost income was hard, but losing yourself is worse. I

U.S. productivity rose at a healthy pace in the second quarter but dropped at American factories, another sign of trouble for manufacturers. The Labor Department says overall productivity — output per hour worked — rose at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 2.3% in the April-June period after rising 3.5% from January through March. The

BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev. — It was dusk on the opening night of Burning Man, and the makers and misfits were touching up their art projects and orgy dens. Subwoofers oontz-oontzed as topless cyclists draped in glowing LEDs pedaled through the desert. And Paul Romer, a reigning laureate of the Nobel Prize in economics, sat

Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday amid encouraging global developments, including British lawmakers seeking a less chaotic exit from the European Union and the potential easing of political tensions in Hong Kong. Japan’s benchmark Nikeki 225 rose 2.3% to 21,118.15 in afternoon trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.9% to 6,613.20, while South Korea’s Kospi gained

Big beer is still duking it out over corn syrup. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Anheuser-Busch to stop using Bud Light packaging that implies rival brews made by MillerCoors contain corn syrup. The order extends an injunction issued in May that barred Anheuser-Busch from making those claims in television, billboard and print advertising. The

The latest on developments in financial markets (all times local): 4 p.m. Technology companies led a broad rally in U.S. stocks, erasing much of the market’s losses from a day earlier. Traders pivoted to riskier holdings Wednesday as encouraging developments overseas helped alleviate anxiety over the global economy. Lawmakers in Britain were seeking a less