Stocks jumped Wednesday after surprisingly strong growth in U.S. and Chinese manufacturing allayed some of the worries that had been building over the global economy in recent weeks.

The new reports snapped a string of disappointing economic data that sent stocks slumping in August. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the benchmark most widely used by professional investors, lost 4.7 percent in the month, its worst August performance since 2001.

In the wake of the 27% drop in existing home sales announced by the National Association of Realtors earlier this week to a level last seen 15 years ago, and a 12.1%drop in new home sales to a level not ever seen since records started being kept in 1963, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced that the federal government was going to do everything in its power to restart the housing market. Donovan didn’t exactly say “Yes” to another homebuyer tax credit, but he hasn’t ruled it out either.
 

Small businesses in Colorado cut 1.4%of their positions from the first of the year through July.

Also, average salaries at the state's small businesses have declined 0.9% since the start of 2010.

Colorado lags other westerns states and the nation as a whole in the pace of small-business hiring.

From January through June, small businesses in the West added a combined 4.1% to their payrolls, and average pay went up 1.4%.

Read more: Denver Business Journal
 

For the eighth month in a row, home prices in the Denver area showed a year-over-year price increase in June, rising 1.8 percent from June 2009, but the pace of yearly price growth has slowed, according to the latest S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index, released Tuesday.

Read more: Denver Business Journal
 

Americans are spending a little more this summer, but hardly enough to rejuvenate the weakening economy.

What is needed is a bigger boost in salaries and more jobs. Economists don't see either coming this year, which is why the economy is likely to limp along.

Still, modest gains in spending were a welcome sign after a string of economic reports last week raised fears of the country slipping back into a recession.
 

The news website based its rankings on the percentage of local adults with degrees in science and computer math as well as the share of those with graduate and professional degrees.

It says 24.22 percent of Boulder adults hold a graduate or professional degree, 7.84 percent have one in computer math and 3.15 percent have a science degree.

Wireless provider Sprint says it plans to fill 80 to 100 positions at its Douglas County call center as it launches 4G service in the area and has scheduled an all-day "on-site hiring event" at the site for Tuesday, Aug. 31.

The event will be held from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. MDT at the call center, located at 333 Inverness Drive S. in the Inverness business park near Centennial Airport. The call center has an Englewood mailing address but is located in unincorporated Douglas County, several miles east of Englewood.

President Barack Obama exhorted Congress on Monday to make passage of a long-languishing small business aid package its first order of business when it returns next month from its summer break.

"I ask Senate Republicans to drop the blockade," Obama said in the Rose Garden after meeting with his economic advisers.
Acknowledging that the economy still remains extremely fragile, the president said he'd also have other specific ideas in the days ahead.

Frontier Airlines said Monday it is adding once-a-week seasonal nonstop flights from Denver to the western Costa Rican city of Liberia.

Frontier already flies to San José, capital of the Central American nation. But Liberia is closer to Costa Rica' popular resort beaches in its north Pacific coast province of Guanacaste.

The seasonal service begins Feb. 13, 2011, and runs through Aug. 21, 2011. Airbus jets will fly once in each direction each Sunday.

After rebounding in July, manufacturing activity in a seven-state region that includes Colorado suffered a significant slump in August, according to the latest survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Manufacturers in the 10th Federal Reserve District -- which includes Colorado -- reported a drop in production, with the index hitting zero, down from 14 in July. The index can range from 100 to minus 100. A positive result indicates growth, and a negative result shows contraction.