If your company offers a 401(k) plan, it can be an effective way to save for your future: You get tax benefits, the money is automatically taken from your paycheck before you have the chance to spend it and, often, companies offer a match, which is essentially free money. Consistent contributions can even make you a millionaire.In fact, the number of Fidelity 401(k) accounts with a balance of $1 million or more recently hit a record of 180,000. 

U.S.manufacturer growth hit new lows in May, the latest sign that the trade war may be slowing the economy. The U.S. manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers Index) was 50.6 in May, the lowest level since September 2009, according to results from financial data firm IHS Markit released Thursday.

U.S.tariffs on Chinese goods are hurting an unintended target as the trade war rages, an International Monetary Fund study found. The study, released Thursday, said that tariff revenue collected from levies on Chinese goods “has been borne almost entirely” by U.S. importers.

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to sustained labor market strength even as the economy slows.

In the case of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (Nasdaq: QQQ), they have just had their 10-day moving averages cross bearishly below their 50-day moving averages. Looking at each of the charts, it is the first time since October that these ETFs have experienced a bearish crossover in the moving averages and when it happened last fall, it was an ominous sign.In the case of the QQQ, it was trading around $162.50 when the 10-day moved back above the 50-day and it would eventually rise above $190 before pulling back again.

Federal Reserve officials remained firmly committed to a “patient” policy stance at their meeting earlier this month, saying rates likely will remain unchanged well into the future.

home sales fell for a second straight month in April due to weak sales in the lower-priced segment of the market. Existing home sales fell 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.19 million units last month.Economists polled by Reuters had forecast existing home sales rising 2.7% to a rate of 5.35 million units in April. Existing home sales, which make up about 90% of U.S. home sales, dropped 4.4% from a year ago.  That was the 14th straight year-on-year decrease in home sales. 

Global dividends reached a first-quarter record of $263.3 billion, rising 7.8% despite concerns about the world economy, according to new research Monday. The Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index said that U.S. dividends totaled a record $122.5 billion during the period, up 8.3%.

Trade tensions between the U.S. and China stalled a global recovery and are continuing to endanger investment and growth, the secretary general of the OECD warned Monday. “We were in the middle of a recovery when all these decisions about trade started and not only did it stifle the recovery, it basically has produced the slowdown and the potential for greater damage is still there,” Angel Gurria told CNBC.

As trade tensions with the U.S. intensified, China sold off its Treasury holdings at the fastest pace in about two years during March. The largest foreign owner of U.S. debt reduced the level by just shy of $20.5 billion, a slight decrease that brought the total holdings down to $1.12 trillion. 

When it comes to his position on the U.S.-China trade dispute, President Donald Trump is still playing the role of a riverboat gambler on a hot streak. Nearly a year ago, Trump was pressed, during a CNBC interview, to explain his aggressive tariff strategy both against China and other partners around the world.The S&P 500 was up nearly 5% for the year as of the July 20 appearance, and the large-cap index had risen 31% since his election victory in 2016.

A Federal Reserve projection on economic growth just weakened substantially, and expectations for a rate cut over the next eight months got a lot stronger. The Atlanta Fed’s closely watched GDPNow tracker is pointing to a 1.1% gain for the economy in the second quarter, according to a revision posted Wednesday.

Consumer and industrial activity in both the U.S. and China slowed in April, even before the world’s two biggest economies entered the latest phase of an escalating trade war that could take a bite out of global growth.

U.S.consumer prices rose in April but underlying inflation remained muted, suggesting the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates unchanged for a while.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that tariffs are an "excellent" alternative to a trade deal with China, hours before Chinese officials were set to meet U.S. trade negotiators later in Washington.READ MORE...

President Donald Trump said Thursday that tariffs are an "excellent" alternative to a trade deal with China, hours before Chinese officials were set to meet U.S. trade negotiators later in Washington.READ MORE...

U.S.President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that China “broke the deal” it had reached in trade talks with the United States, and vowed not to back down on imposing new tariffs on Chinese imports unless Beijing “stops cheating our workers.”  

China had backtracked on commitments in trade talks, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten additional tariffs over the weekend, but Washington would be willing to keep talking if the Chinese changed position, top U.S. trade officials said on Monday. Read more...

Analysts expected nonfarm payroll growth of 185,000 jobs, and the market didn’t disappoint.The national employment metric grew from 196,000 in March to 263,000 in April, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Read More...  

U.S.manufacturing activity slowed to a 2-1/2-year low in April as new orders dropped while construction spending unexpectedly fell in March, suggesting economic growth was moderating after surging in the first quarter. One of the reports from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) showed businesses increasingly anxious that President Donald Trump’s threats to close the U.S.-Mexico boarder would further disrupt the supply chain. The Federal Reserve kept U.S. interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, noting solid economic growth in the first quarter, and also holding out hope that inflation will rise toward the U.S. central bank’s 2% target.