Economy shows incremental improvement

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and conomics Writers
WASHINGTON — The economy is showing signs of modest improvement — not enough to reduce high unemployment but enough to ease fears that another recession might be near.

Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week, though some of that was due to technical factors. And the economy grew slightly more in the April-June quarter than previously estimated. Growth is also expected to tick up in coming months.
Some of the news Thursday wasn’t encouraging. Chief executives of the nation’s largest companies are more pessimistic than they were just three months ago, according to a survey by a trade group, the Business Roundtable.
Only about one-third of the CEOs said they plan to hire or boost spending in the next six months. That’s down from about half who said so in June.
And fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in August, the second straight month of declines.
The economy expanded at an annual rate of 1.3 percent in the April-June quarter, up from an estimate of 1 percent a month ago, the Commerce Department said. The improvement reflected modestly higher consumer spending and a bigger boost from trade.