AFP - One year after Ben Bernanke took the helm at the Federal Reserve, the central bank appears to have achieved a sought-after "soft landing" for the US economy.

AFP - Japanese share prices rose 0.46 percent in morning trade on Friday, hitting more than six-year highs on optimism about the weak yen, Japanese company earnings and the US economy, dealers said.

AP - The U.S. service sector expanded at a faster rate in January than in the previous month, a trade group said Monday, signaling a strong start to economy growth this year.

AFP - Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the US economy faces a growing rich-poor gap that is "a major challenge for economists and policymakers," and urged more training and education for the those in the lowest ranks.

FT.com - Wall Street stocks were set for a higher start on Wednesday after a better-than- expected set of productivity data raised confidence over the strength of the US economy. The 3 per cent rise in the fourth quarter exceeded economists estimates.

AP - The number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits edged up slightly last week but still remained at levels signaling a solid labor market.

AP - The high prices farmers are getting for their corn remain steady, and soybean prices have risen, the Agriculture Department said Friday.

AP - The deficit for the first four months of the current budget year is down sharply from the same period a year ago as the government continues to benefit from record levels of tax collections.

Reuters - The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in December and grew 6.5 percent during all of 2006 to a record $763.6 billion, a U.S. Commerce Department report showed on Tuesday.

FT.com - Ben Bernanke on Wednesday laid out a soft-landing scenario for the US economy in his twice-annual testimony to Congress, with core inflation inching down to 2 per cent or below next year.

Reuters - The number of U.S. workers signing up for first-time jobless benefits surged a bigger-than-expected 44,000 last week as wintry storms in the Midwest and Northeast put more people in the unemployment lines, the government said on Thursday.

AP - Construction of new homes and apartments plunged by 14.3 percent in January, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Reuters - U.S. consumer prices rose more than expected in January despite a dip in energy prices, as medical costs jumped, a Labor Department report showed on Wednesday.

Reuters - The number of U.S. workers filing for first-time jobless benefits fell a smaller-than-expected 27,000 last week, a government report showed on Thursday.

FT.com - The Federal Reserve's benign view of the US economy - that it is enjoying solid growth, moderating inflationary pressures and stablisation in the housing market in 2007 - will begin to be stress-tested in this week's data releases.

AFP - The dollar traded mainly lower Monday as the market braced for fresh data expected to show a slowdown in the US economy, and monitored tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions, dealers said.

AP - Consumer confidence rose to its highest level in five-and-a-half years amid optimism that the nation's economy is creating enough jobs, a private research group said Tuesday.

AP - The economy grew at a sluggish 2.2 percent pace in the final quarter of last year, the government reported Wednesday in one of the steepest downward revisions in years. In another report, new-home sales plunged in January by the largest amount in 13 years.