Economy/Ecommerce

The U.S. official poverty rate in 2013 was 14.5 percent, down from 15 percent in 2012, the Census Bureau reported.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development released its latest forecasts for economic growth in various parts of the world, revising them downward in some cases, especially for the euro zone.

Americans had an itch to buy more in August, according to the Census Bureau.

In its Oil Market Report for September, the International Energy Agency has lowered its forecast for global oil demand for the third month running.

In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee this week, Daniel Tarullo, a member of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve, said that the central bank wants to change regulations governing too-big-to-fail banks (or GSIBs, global systemically important banks, in Fed-speak).

Trulia reported that asking prices nationally for residential properties rose 1 percent in August, up a bit from 0.7 percent in July.

Americans borrowed more in July than in June, according to the Federal Reserve, with U.S. consumer credit increasing at an annualized rate of 9.7 percent during the month, compared with 7.1 percent in June.

Despite the relatively low number of jobs created in August—142,000 versus a 12-month average of 212,000 per month—some sectors continued to add jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.