Phil Izzo

By Feb 18, 2012 5:00 am ET 5.5%: E-Commerce's share of total retail sales in the fourth quarter of 2011. It's no secret that more Americans are shopping online, but the speed at which sales are moving to the Web is striking. According to a recent report from the Commerce Department, $61.8 billion of retail sales were transacted on the Internet in the fourth quarter of last year. That represented a 16% increase from 2010 and accounted for 5.5% of all retail activity over the holiday period.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal see increasing odds of a recession this year along with mounting inflationary pressures, an uncomfortable mix that could play a role in shaping the 2008 presidential campaign and complicate life for the Federal Reserve. In the latest monthly survey, economists put the chance of recession at 42%, up from 38% in December and 23% just six months ago.

May 23, 2011 2:22 pm ET Nearly half of Americans say that they definitely or probably couldn’t come up with $2,000 in 30 days, according to new research, raising concerns about the financial fragility of many households. In a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, Annamaria Lusardi of the George Washington School of Business, Daniel J.