Spending over the holidays could increase by roughly 3.5 percent over last year, according to the National Retail Federation—despite an economy still limping from COVID-19 lockdowns. Last month’s consumer spending increased by 0.5 percent—the weakest rise since April, according to the Commerce Department.

General Motors said Monday it would recall more than 7 million vehicles, including pickup trucks and SUVs from Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC, because of an issue with air bag inflators from Japanese manufacturer Takata. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) since 2016 has recalled more than 60 million cars from around 20 companies because the Takata bags run a risk of exploding on deployment and have killed 27 people worldwide, including 18 Americans.

The number of Americans seeking first-time unemployment benefits last week decreased by more than 40,000 to 751,000, according to the Labor Department’s Thursday report. A quarterly report from the Commerce Department also showed a 33.1 percent annualized rise in gross domestic product during the months of July, August, and September.

Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson of Stanford University researched how the format of an auction and the bidders’ mindsets affect the winner and final price. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the two Americans the Nobel Memorial Prize for economics on Monday. The men will split an award of more than $1 million.

WASHINGTON—Economists expect an impressive rebound after a depressing second quarter. A U.S. Commerce Department report released on Wednesday showed the gross domestic product fell by 31.4 percent in April, May, and June while lockdowns from the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed many businesses. That’s the steepest drop in the report’s history—three times greater than the second-worst decline.

WASHINGTON—Some 884,000 Americans applied for jobless benefits last week, and more than 13 million Americans are receiving unemployment checks, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s report released on Thursday. The job posting site Indeed said the number of open positions did not increase over the past week. Weekly unemployment applications have fallen significantly from nearly 7 million as the pandemic broke out in late March, but they remain higher than at any point during the 2008-2009 recession.

WASHINGTON—U.S. employers added 1.4 million new jobs last month, restoring half the number of positions lost since the beginning of coronavirus-related lockdowns in March. The unemployment rate has finally dipped below the recession rates of 2008-2009, reaching 8.4 percent in August, according to the monthly U.S. Department of Labor report released Friday. Manufacturers have almost returned to pre-pandemic levels of factory ordering, and home sales are on the rise. But some industries, such as restaurants and airlines, have not yet recovered from their precipitous collapse.