WASHINGTON—New orders for key U.S.–manufactured capital goods increased by the most in five months in January while shipments of those so-called core goods rebounded, suggesting that business spending on equipment picked up at the start of the first quarter. Some of the larger-than-expected rise in core capital goods orders reported by the Commerce Department on…

BOCA RATON, Florida/LONDON—Major consumer companies including Kraft Heinz Co. and Conagra Brands Inc. are culling product lines to combat sky-high costs and falling consumer demand, their executives said this week. Many companies started slimming their offerings during the pandemic and are aggressively renewing those efforts, eliminating less-popular items to focus on products on which they…

LONDON—Shoppers around the world will pay even more for groceries this year than they did in 2022, according to retailers, consumer goods firms, and investors, unless commodity costs decline or the shift to cheaper store-brand products accelerates. Retailers and consumer goods producers have been stuck in tough price negotiations for more than a year now,…

LOS ANGELES—U.S. imports of goods in ocean shipping containers in December fell to levels approaching those last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report said on Tuesday. Demand for kitchen appliances, furniture, big-screen TVs, apparel, and other retail goods softened late last year as record inflation bit into disposable income and consumers shifted spending…

WASHINGTON—New orders for U.S.–made capital goods rose moderately in November while shipments fell, pointing to a slowdown in business spending on equipment this quarter as higher borrowing costs cool demand for goods. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.2 percent last month, the Commerce Department…

WASHINGTON—Prices for online goods in the United States fell at a nearly 2 percent annual pace in November, the fastest decline since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a sign that one important aspect of overall inflation continues to slow. The month-to-month decline in the Adobe Digital Price Index, a measure of online shopping…

WASHINGTON—New orders for U.S.–made capital goods increased in July, but the pace slowed from the prior month, suggesting that business spending on equipment could struggle to rebound after contracting in the second quarter. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.4 percent last month, the Commerce…

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has recently relaxed its pandemic control measures imposed on non-cold chain imports. On July 12, China’s top health body announced that nucleic acid swabs and disinfection would no longer be imposed on “low-risk non-cold chain imported goods,” but goods deemed high risk of transmission will still be disinfected. The announcement…

WASHINGTON—The U.S. trade deficit in goods narrowed in May as exports increased strongly, suggesting that trade could contribute to economic growth in the second quarter for the first time in nearly two years. The report from the Commerce Department on Tuesday also showed solid increases in wholesale and retail inventories. While those gains, combined with…

OTTAWA—Canada’s industry minister is set to meet with companies desperate for solutions to ease the flow the goods over the border and across the country. Francois-Philippe Champagne agreed to the request that a consortium of manufacturers and exporters made just before the holidays. The coalition of 18 associations notes that many of the causes of…