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By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER and PAUL WISEMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A surprising rise in the U.S. unemployment rate last month has rattled financial markets and set off new worries about the threat of a recession — but it could also prove to be a false alarm.

Friday’s jobs report, which also showed hiring slowed last month, coincides with other signs the economy is cooling amid high prices and elevated interest rates. A survey of manufacturing firms showed activity weakened noticeably in July. Hurricane Beryl, however, hit Texas during the same week the government compiles its job data and could have held back job gains.

The U.S. economy used to flash reliable signals when it was in or near a recession. But those red lights have gone haywire since the COVID-19 pandemic struck and upended normal business activity. Over the past two or three years, they’ve signaled downturns that never arrived as the economy just kept rolling along.

Worries about a recession are also quickly politicized, even more so as the presidential election intensifies. Former President Donald Trump’s campaign on Friday said the jobs report is “more evidence that the Biden-Harris economy is failing Americans.” read more

By HALELUYA HADERO

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.

The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement. read more

IRA expert Ed Slott (www.irahelp.com) recently summarized the final IRS release, dated July 18, 2024, that discusses the annual required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the 10-year period associated with the SECURE Act of 2020. Up to now, the releases from the IRS were not final.

The regulations are taxpayer-friendly and helpful for IRA owners, plan participants and their beneficiaries. The IRS is standing firm and maintaining its strict interpretation of one provision of the law that has generated a lot of controversy.

When the SECURE Act went into effect, most nonspouse beneficiaries lost the ability to stretch RMDs from their inherited IRAs over their life expectancy. These beneficiaries became subject to a 10-year payout rule.

In the wake of the SECURE Act, the IRS proposed regulations that took the controversial position that if the account holder died on or after his required beginning date (RBD) for starting RMDs, the annual RMD payments must continue to the beneficiary during the 10-year period following the year after inheritance. The IRS based its opinion on a longstanding provision in the tax code often referred to as the “at least as rapidly rule.” Yet, due to all the confusion the IRS caused, the IRS waived RMDs during the 10-year period for beneficiaries for the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. read more