If you're confused about whether the US economy is in a recession, you're not alone.

On one hand, gross domestic product, a key measure of economic output, shrank for the second straight quarter this week, raising fears that the country has entered -- or will soon enter -- recession territory. On the other hand, the job market remains very strong, telling us the economy is still robust.

Another key measure of inflation set a fresh 40-year high in June, a month marked by record-high gas prices.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which measures the change in the prices of goods and services purchased by consumers, rose by 6.8% in June as compared to the same period last year, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Americans' paychecks continued to rise at the end of 2021. But along with that, so did prices.

Compensation for American workers climbed 4% between December 2020 and December 2021, marking the biggest increase since the fourth quarter of 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Private sector workers fared even better, with their compensation rising 4.4% in the same period -- the fastest rate since records began in 2001.

The jobs recovery may be losing steam. But the unemployment rate continued to fall, and workers are still bringing home bigger paychecks.

Investors don't seem sure what to think about those mixed messages.
Stocks were mixed Friday after the US government reported that just 199,000 jobs were added in December, significantly less than economists expected. The Dow rose about 120 points, or 0.3%, after opening lower.

Severe cases of Covid-19 might impact the quality of a man's sperm, thus possibly impacting his fertility, according to a new study published Thursday in the journal Reproduction.

Bad news is good news again on Wall Street. Stocks rose at the opening bell Friday to hit more new records -- despite the fact that the United States government reported a surprise loss of 140,000 jobs in December.

Every year around this time, companies offer employees the chance to update their benefit preferences during open enrollment.

Usually, the changes are minimal. Not this year.
'Open enrollment for a lot of people is typically something that is on autopilot,' said Christina Gamache, a financial adviser with Audax Wealth Management. 'This year is different. A person's financial situation at the beginning of 2020 likely looks very different than it does today, and it may look even more different from 2021.'

If you asked Alec Mahon one month ago whether he believed in love, he'd probably tell you he had 'given up.'

When coronavirus first hit in March, the freelance production manager paid about $30 for a three-month premium subscription on the dating app Hinge -- and he figured he'd just keep swiping until that ended.

Researchers are learning more about the risks cancer patients face if they become sick with Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has swept through the world.

Patients whose cancer was getting worse or spreading were more than five times more likely to die in the space of a month if they caught Covid-19, researchers said this week during the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Even if the patients' cancer wasn't spreading, coronavirus infection nearly doubled the risk of dying, the researchers found.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom outlined a framework for reopening the economy in the Golden State Tuesday, warning in a gentle rebuke to President Donald Trump that the state's coronavirus protocols would be guided by 'science and public health, not politics' and telling residents that they will enter a radically different environment in their daily interactions.

The Democrat did not give a date that the current state-at-home order would end. It currently extends through May 3 statewide, and longer in places like Los Angeles, which has a stay-at-home in effect until May 15. Instead local governments, he said, would be determinative, but he declined to respond to Trump's assertion that the President alone has total authority to decide when the country will reopen.

Indonesia has temporarily banned domestic road, air and sea travel starting Friday to prevent the spread of coronavirus, as millions of Muslims mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation and tens of millions of people make their way home to celebrate the end of Ramadan each year with families and loved ones, an annual tradition called mudik.

The Treasury Department, clearing up confusion, has announced Social Security recipients will not have to file a tax return in order to receive the economic stimulus payments the government is preparing to send out amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It was unclear in guidance posted earlier this week whether Social Security recipients who don't normally file taxes would have to in order to receive the money. But the Treasury Department said Wednesday that those beneficiaries will automatically receive the money. The IRS will use the information that the Social Security Administration has on file.
Social Security recipients won't have to take any action.

Are you ready to give up caffeine for 40 days? What about your social media accounts? While giving up those things may seem hard for you, Christians long ago used to give up a whole lot more.

Ash Wednesday is today. It marks the first day of Lent in Western churches. The ashes symbolize penance and the dust from which God made people.
When priests mark Christian's forehead with the ashes they often say, 'Repent and believe in the Gospel,' or 'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'

Concerns are mounting about how long the novel coronavirus may survive on surfaces -- so much so that China's central bank has taken measures to deep clean and destroy its cash, which changes hands multiple times a day, in an effort to contain the virus.

It is unknown exactly how long the novel coronavirus can linger on contaminated surfaces and objects with the potential of infecting people, but some researchers are finding clues by studying the elusive behaviors of other coronaviruses.

There are 1,479 lung injury cases associated with e-cigarette products in 49 states, the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands as of Tuesday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Alaska is the only state without a reported case.

More illnesses have been reported across the United States in two separate cyclospora outbreaks, federal health officials said Thursday.

In less than a week, the number of cases of reported illness from eating McDonald's salads rose from 61 to 163.

Go ahead, have that one drink, but wait, will that one drink shorten your life?  Find out the latest.  

How do we turn down the pressure present today on girls.  Studies are showing that nowadays, girls in increasing numbers are struggling with anxiety and depression.  

Crunches, not the cereal but those annoying love handles you have chilling on your sides.  Ready to get rid of them finally, here's how. 

How could those high school kids have marched en masse and not achieved any meaningful reform?
That seems to be the state of affairs: The gun laws seem intractably set, despite growing public support to change them, at least on the periphery of the laws. Measures passed in Florida after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting seem to have no prospects at the national level.

Pope Francis referred to the Rohingya people by name on Friday, the first time he has directly addressed Myanmar's persecuted Muslim minority in his Asia tour.
'The presence of God today is also called Rohingya,' the Pope said after speaking to an interfaith audience in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.