William Sluis

HOUSING SOLID A new rate rush With rising interest rates beginning to take a bite out of the mortgage market, it may be only a matter of time until housing...

SPENDING BRISKLY Solid sales gains Americans have been told the same story for many months: Keep up a torrid spending pace and soon businesses will join in, buying new equipment...

SERVICE SECTOR Dynamic demand Americans who harbor doubts about the economic rebound point to manufacturing, which seems interminably stuck in low gear. A 3-year hiring drought at the nation's factories...

GROWTH PROSPECTS Still a tepid pace Talk of recession is always unpopular, so it was with a sense of relief that Americans were told in mid-July that the last downturn...

ECONOMIC GAUGE 3 gains in a row? This year's journey for the leading economic indicators has involved a bumpy detour onto a rocky road. After finishing 2002 on an up...

HOME SALES Strength remains If the economic pace has begun to quicken, as more and more people believe, an unfortunate side effect could be an end to the boom in...

DOLLAR WOBBLES Trade gap widens A dive by the dollar against the euro over the last 12 months has created dire predictions aplenty, with gloomsayers offering predictions of wholesale dumping...

NEW JOBS Missing in action With interest rates at 45-year lows following 13 reductions by the Federal Reserve, those who are looking for work can rightly ask: When will the...

MANUFACTURING Signs of a stirring Although there is plenty of talk about the economic recovery gathering a head of steam, the nation's manufacturers see their furnaces still banked. Employment in...

MORTGAGE RATES Growth stimulant In the midst of a boom in residential real estate that can only be described as historic, there is little on the horizon that could induce...