By Nathalie Voit The Biden-Harris administration announced it will now require private insurance companies and group health plans to cover the costs of up to eight at-home over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month beginning Jan. 15, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a press release. The new policy is part of the administration’s plan [...]
By Nathalie Voit The cost of living increased substantially in 2020 in places like Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said in a news release on Dec. 14. Regional price parities (RPPs), which measure the difference in price levels across states relative to the national average, were the highest [...]
By Nathalie Voit A U.S. trade court determined tech giant Google infringed on Sonos speaker technology in a Jan. 6 ruling. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) issued an import ban on Google for products that violate the speaker manufacturer’s intellectual property, the first of its kind from the trade agency for Google. After two [...]
By Nathalie Voit Nonfarm payrolls rose by just 199,000 in December while the unemployment rate fell to a new pandemic-era low of 3.9%, the Labor Department said Jan. 7 in its monthly Jobs Report. Employment gains were led by hiring in the leisure and hospitality industry (+53,000), in professional and business services (+43,000), in manufacturing (+26,000), [...]
By Nathalie Voit The U.S. trade deficit rose nearly 20% in November as demand for imports far outpaced U.S. exports, the Commerce Department said Jan. 6. The November 2021 trade gap in goods and services increased from an upwardly revised $67.2 billion in October to $80.2 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations by nearly $3 billion, according to Reuters. [...]
By Nathalie Voit Popular fitness apparel brand Nike sued Lululemon for patent infringement over the use of the leggings maker’s Mirror fitness technology and related mobile applications. In a complaint filed on Jan. 5 in the Southern District Court of New York, Nike accused its younger rival of infringing on six of its fitness equipment [...]
By Nathalie Voit Popular retailers across the U.S. are raising prices on COVID-19 test kits after an agreement with the Biden administration to sell them below market rate expired in December. BinaxNOW kits, among the most commonly used COVID-19 rapid antigen tests in the country, will now set you back $19.98 a box at Walmart, [...]
By Nathalie Voit The number of workers who quit their jobs in November increased 3.0% to a record high of 4.53 million, the Department of Labor said Jan. 4. The quits level, or the number of voluntary separations initiated by the employee for the month, broke September’s 4.36 million high. The quits rate matched September’s [...]
By Nathalie Voit A new report released Jan. 3 by trade credit insurer Euler Hermes predicts that the semiconductor market will continue to grow in 2022. According to analysts at Euler Hermes, global semiconductor sales are poised to increase by 9% in 2022. The strong predicted sales growth comes after the 26% surge in semiconductor sales [...]
By Nathalie Voit The White House released a statement on Jan. 3 vowing to spur competition in the meat-processing industry and support consumers. As per President Joe Biden’s broader Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, the Biden administration will invest $1 billion in funding from the American Rescue Plan to diversify the meat and poultry [...]
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