Jobless Claims Hover Near Record Lows Sustaining 'No Hire, No Fire' Narrative

Map Shows Homebuilders Pulling Back Nationwide "Given Limited Visibility To Demand" Even as homebuilders offer mortgage-rate buydowns, closing-cost incentives, and upgraded amenities to attract buyers on the sidelines, clouds of uncertainty continue to build over the housing market. New U.S. single-family permit activity fell again in January, highlighting yet more caution among builders ahead of the spring selling season as they respond to softer demand. Goldman analysts, led by Susan Maklari, provided clients on Friday with a snapshot of homebuilders across America and a housing heat map suggesting continued sluggishness across...

Fast Food Giant Under Investigation Over Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak: Report Federal and state health officials are reportedly zeroing in on Taco Bell restaurants as a possible culprit in one of the biggest parasite outbreaks to slam the U.S. in years, a nasty bug that turns your guts into a nonstop disaster zone of explosive diarrhea and misery. More than 4,000 people have already been sickened, the vast majority of them in Michigan, where victims are enduring days of gut-wrenching, bathroom-racing hell that has hospitalized at least 80 people so far. The Washington...

Russia Says UAE's 'OPECxit' Won't Spark Immediate Price War Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax, downplayed fears that the UAE's planned OPEC exit will trigger an immediate oil price war and race to the bottom.  "In the current situation, what kind of price war can there be when there is a shortage in the market?" Novak said, adding with the Strait of Hormuz remaining all but closed, "a huge amount of oil isn't reaching the market today, and demand is significantly higher than...