A report issued by the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University indicates the recent upswing in home prices has come at a steady, sustainable pace, meaning homeowners should not expect another bubble to burst.

It’s only been a week since the 1-cent sales tax went off the books, but area economists and businesses do not expect to see much if any increase in retail sales in the foreseeable future due in part to consumers having little idea the increase ended.

Americans are more confident in the U.S. economy than at any point in the past five years, thanks to surging home values, a brighter job market and record-setting stock prices.
Stock averages last month extended the year’s explosive rally.
Further gains in consumer confidence could help the economy withstand the effects of higher taxes and federal spending cuts that kicked in this year. Spending by consumers drives about 70 percent of economic growth.


If people vote with their feet, new numbers from the U.S. Census show they like the far suburbs of Phoenix a lot — and are not really keen on large swaths of much of the rest of Arizona.

Forget fears of sequestration. And never mind the hike in payroll taxes that shrunk paychecks.

Most of us already realize “normal” is relative. Yet, we are only human. And as such, we can scarcely stop ourselves from the very-human behavior of seizing every available opportunity to try to quantify and define the term.

The Department of Administration reports Arizona’s jobless rate last month was 7.9 percent. That’s the third straight month at that level.

It's not a big breakthrough.

The value of home sales in Western states rose over the last year even as the number of transactions slipped, according to an official with the National Association of Realtors.

The state's jobless rate inched down just a bit last month amid weaker than expected showing in retail and health care employment.

Two new reports on the cost of changing how construction activity is taxed could torpedo the sales tax simplification plan being pushed by Gov. Jan Brewer.

A new report from the federal government shows that women in Arizona are much more likely to be paid on par with men than in most other states.

A new report from the federal government shows that women in Arizona are much more likely to be paid on par with men than in most other states.

Thanks to a range of factors — including medical advances, healthier eating habits and better fitness — Americans are living longer lives. Life expectancy in the U.S. recently hit a record 78.7 years, and the number of Americans living past age 90 has nearly tripled during the last 30 years. But while living well into our 90s is a dream for many of us, the possibility of outliving our savings serves as an eye-opener.

If people vote with their feet, then at least a few people last year saw Arizona as a land of opportunity.

U.S. / $38,637 / $39,791 / $41,560 / -- / 4.4%

Holiday spending is expected to increase by 3.5 to 4 percent this year, as a rising number of consumers plan to spend more and fewer expect to pull back, according to a new national survey.

If the numbers ultimately prove accurate, Arizona had a lackluster October in terms of job growth.

Proponents of a permanent one-cent hike in state sales taxes for education are defending setting aside 10 percent of the $1 billion that would be raised to start for road construction.

Melissa d’Arabian is a home economist for a new era. Actually, she’s more CFO than home ec.

Detroit  - For car buyers seeking auto loans, happy days are here again.

Arizona’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate remained at 8.2 percent in June for the third month in a row.

Led by strong purchases of cars and trucks, Arizonans appear to be confident enough in the economy to post a small gain last month in retail sales over the same time a year earlier.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.