Commerce Department

WASHINGTON—The U.S. imposed new export restrictions on advanced semiconductors and chip-manufacturing equipment Friday in an effort to prevent American technology from advancing China’s military power.The rules will require U.S. chip makers to obtain a license from the Commerce Department to export certain chips used in advanced artificial-intelligence calculations and supercomputing—crucial technologies for modern weapons systems, senior administration officials said. The U.S. already requires licenses for exports of…

A government report on late-summer consumer spending will show how Americans are coping with high inflation and steeper borrowing costs.The Commerce Department is due to release August personal-income and spending figures at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday. The report covers spending on goods and services and includes an update on U.S. inflation, which is holding close to the highest level in four decades. The personal-consumption expenditures price index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of inflation, rose 6.3% in…

Companies pulled back on orders for long-lasting goods for the second month straight in August, a sign of weakening demand as the U.S. economy loses momentum amid high inflation and rising interest rates. New orders for durable goods—products meant to last at least three years—declined by 0.2% to a seasonally adjusted $272.7 billion in August compared with the prior month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Excluding defense, new orders were down 0.9%. Orders fell a revised 0.1% in…

U.S. consumers spent at a steady pace in August as gasoline prices fell, with purchases of vehicles and back-to-school items like clothing driving the gain. Retail sales, a measure of spending at stores, online and in restaurants, rose 0.3% in August from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. July spending was revised down to a 0.4% decline from a previous flat reading. Much of August’s gain was due to higher spending on vehicles, with…

The US Commerce Department said it reached a cooperative research and development agreement with Alphabet Inc's Google to produce chips that researchers can use to develop new nanotechnology and semiconductor devices. The deal was signed between the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Google. The chips will be manufactured by semiconductor company SkyWater Technology at its Bloomington, Minnesota, semiconductor foundry, the department said. Read Also Google will pay the initial…

Chinese satellite internet providers could gain a competitive advantage from a decision by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) staff to deny SpaceX $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies, FCC commissioner Nathan Simington said. Elon Musk's SpaceX on Friday challenged the FCC's decision rejecting its application for funds tentatively awarded in 2020 under the commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a multibillion dollar program in which SpaceX was poised to receive $885.5 million to beam satellite internet…

Imports to the U.S. fell 2.9% in July, reflecting declines in American purchases of consumer goods and industrial supplies. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images…

WASHINGTON—As a $52 billion bill to bolster semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. approached a critical juncture, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo reached out to some unusual figures to cultivate support in Congress: former Trump administration national security officials.A member of her security detail told her that H.R. McMaster, national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, praised her on Joe Rogan’s…

WASHINGTON— President Biden remains undecided about easing tariffs on Chinese imports, as he weighs the possible impact on inflation against the impact on American workers, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. “He is trying to balance the benefit to inflation from cutting the tariffs against potential harm to U.S. labor,” Ms. Raimondo said in an interview. “I know he’s looking at it. He takes it incredibly seriously.”…

Consumer prices rose 6.3% in July from a year earlier, according to a Commerce Department measure. Photo: frederic j. brown/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images…