AP - Construction spending rose a healthy 0.5 percent to a record level in April, as office construction surged and activity in the red-hot housing market hit an all-time high, the government reported Wednesday.

Reuters - Temporary layoffs in the U.S. auto industry helped push initial claims for jobless benefits up by a sharper-than-expected 25,000 last week, according to a government report on Thursday that suggested little change in the underlying pace of layoffs.

AFP - Comments from a Federal Reserve official -- using a baseball analogy suggesting the rate-hiking phase may be near an end -- have thrown economists and financial markets for a curve.

AP - Job growth slowed nearly to a crawl in May, with new hiring registering the smallest gain in almost two years. The unemployment rate dipped to a low 5.1 percent, however.

Reuters - While it is not quite the days of the dot-com boom, when companies lured graduates with promises of six-figure salaries and ping-pong tables in the workplace, corporate recruiters are once again combing campuses for the best of the Class of 2005.

AFP - US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has urged a more flexible exchange rate for the Chinese currency even as he argued that the impact of any change on the American economy would be minor.

Reuters - U.S. monetary policy-makers warned anew on Tuesday that a quest by yield-starved investors for higher rates of return may be pushing them to take on excessive risks.

Investor's Business Daily - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Monday he can't explain falling long-term yields in the face of a string of short-term rate hikes. If he doesn't know, who does?

FT.com - Alan Greenspan told the US Congress on Thursday the Federal Reserve would continue to raise interest rates, dispelling market speculation that the cycle of rate rises was about to end.

BusinessWeek Online - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan sees no reason to stop raising interest rates. In his testimony before Congress on June 9, he said the economy is still on 'reasonably firm footing' and referred to the Fed's well worn phrase that the policy accommodation provided by the current low level of interest rates 'can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured.'

AP - Breaking down barriers to financial services transactions between the U.S. and EU members would provide a needed lift for the European Union economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Tuesday.

AFP - Inflation appears contained based on the latest data on US consumer and wholesale prices, leading some analysts to predict the Federal Reserve may reconsider its policy of steady interest rate increases.

AP - U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said Thursday that U.S. authorities were working on increased monitoring of hedge funds, while his German counterpart called for increased trans-Atlantic dialogue on the issue.

Reuters - U.S. home sales could strike a fifth straight record in 2005 due to low mortgage rates, a growing economy and an increasing number of investors, Fannie Mae's chief economist said on Thursday.

BusinessWeek Online - The housing market was supposed to start cooling off when the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates a year ago. But eight rate hikes and 200 basis points later, it's as hot as ever.

Investor's Business Daily - Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher recently pegged the pace of interest-rate hikes as being in the eighth inning. Wall Street has taken big swings of its own in predicting the Fed's future direction. But more than anything, the current rate-hike cycle could echo the words of Yogi Berra: 'It's deja vu all over again.'

Investor's Business Daily - Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund, thinks the Federal Reserve is about done raising interest rates and might start lowering rates by the end of this year.

AFP - Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan warned US lawmakers clamouring for tariffs against China that a retreat to 'protectionism' would jeopardize US standards of living.

Investor's Business Daily - Raising tariffs against China for its refusal to let the yuan rise would hurt the U.S., Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Treasury Secretary John Snow told lawmakers Thursday.

BusinessWeek Online - The Federal Reserve meets for two days to discuss monetary policy. It would be a genuine surprise if the central bank decided to do anything but raise its key fed funds rate by another 25 basis points to 3.25%. Once again, the Fed's words will likely speak louder than its actions, as markets will dissect the post-meeting press release.

AP - Treasury Secretary John Snow said there's little the government can do to offer immediate relief from record-high oil prices, but predicted the market will adapt and endorsed nuclear power as an alternative.

AFP - The US economy buried fears of an oil-related slowdown in the first quarter to grow by a robust 3.8 percent.

Reuters - Costly energy and stratospheric U.S. housing prices are probably enough to keep Federal Reserve policy-makers from signaling an end on Thursday to the rate-rise cycle they began exactly a year ago.