Business

While it does indeed appear that "economic activity decelerated somewhat over the first half of this year," the Federal Reserve also said in its policy statement this afternoon that it is not — as of yet — taking any news steps to give the economy a boost.

Eric Auld wants a full-time job. He completed a master's program in 2009 and has a part-time job as an adjunct lecturer, but that provides barely enough to cover the bills.

Three years into the economic recovery, the unemployment rate is still disastrously high. So today's big economic question is whether the Federal Reserve will announce new measures to bring down unemployment when it releases its policy statement this afternoon.

Update: The new statement is out. The Fed isn't doing anything new right now.

Weighing 400 grams, the Olympic gold medals that are being doled out at the London 2012 Summer Games are the heaviest ever, according to reports. But that doesn't mean they're the most valuable: at an estimated $620.82, they're nearly $590 short of the $1,207.86 value held by a gold medal from the Stockholm Games of 1912.

The discrepancy stems from the fact that the 2012 gold medals contain only 6 grams of gold; the rest is silver and copper. In fact, the London bling contains more copper than gold, which is only used to coat the medals with a plating layer.

For a historic look at spending in America, see our post What America Buys. For more, see our Graphing America series.

How do Americans spend their money? And how do budgets change across the income spectrum?

"August 1st will be another day that will destroy investor confidence just like the May 6th [2010] flash crash."

That rather ominous sounding pronouncement comes from Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC in Chatham, N.J., in a Bloomberg News report about what happened early this morning on Wall Street.

There was a 163,000-gain in the number of jobs on private payrolls in July, according to the latest ADP National Employment Report.

That's down from an estimated 172,000 boost in June (a number revised slightly from ADP's previous report of a 176,000-increase for that month).

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If you're a musician, your brand is your name. And sometimes musicians feel the need to change their names, as when Prince became that symbol thing.

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Now the rapper born Calvin Broadus, long known as Snoop Dogg, is Snoop Lion. He told reporters this week, he was rechristened Snoop Lion by a Rastafarian priest in Jamaica.

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It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

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And I'm Renee Montagne.

Later today, the Federal Reserve could announce new steps to boost the U.S. economy.

INSKEEP: Let's remember, the Fed has two mandates here: one is to keep inflation in check, the other is to promote a healthy level of employment. Now, the unemployment rate has been stuck above eight percent.

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NPR's business news starts with a poker payout.

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Now let's talk about the business of car insurance. It's getting more competitive but that does not necessarily mean consumers end up saving.

NPR's Sonari Glinton reports.

SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: In real estate the mantra is Location. Location. Location.

JOHN EGAN: That same mantra can be applied to car insurance because geography does play a role in how much you pay for car insurance even down to the zip code level.

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One of the brands that defined the '80s was Jordache jeans.

(SOUNDBITE OF JORDACHE JEANS AD)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing) You've got the look I want to know better. You've got the look that's all together. Working. Playing...

MONTAGNE: Some among you will remember squeezing into a pair of those skintight jeans and then pulling on a purple velour top.

Reporter Matthew Boyle wondered whatever happened to this now faded brand, which led to his profile in of today's Jordache for Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine.

Chick-fil-A has been in the news lately, not because of its chicken sandwiches but thanks to comments by the fast food company's president opposing same-sex marriage.

Social media helped spread the story and some of the country's mayors urged Chick-fil-A not to come to their cities. This led conservatives, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, to call for the public to support the chain on Wednesday by eating at one of its restaurants.

A federal regulator is blocking the government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from reducing the principal that homeowners owe on their mortgages in order to avoid foreclosures.

Tuesday's decision came from Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Microsoft announced that Hotmail — the email service with 324 million users — will transition into a web and more social version of Microsoft's Outlook.

Reuters reports that Microsoft made the announcement, as they showed off their free web version of the email program it is renowned for.

Reuters adds: