Back in business: The United States this morning issued regulations easing restrictions on American companies seeking to do business in Cuba and opening up travel in the latest action to weaken the U.S. trade embargo amid warming relations with the Communist country. Reuters reports the rules, which take effect on Monday, Sept. 21, target travel, telecommunications, Internet-based services, business operations and banking, and allow U.S. companies to establish a presence in Cuba. They also eliminate limits on the amount of money people can send back to the Caribbean nation. Read the full story.
On the way down: American law graduates are increasingly getting a taste of failure before they start their careers. As Bloomberg reports, performance on the bar exam has continued to slip, early results show. The average score on the multiple-choice portion of the July test fell 1.6 points from the previous year, reaching its lowest level since 1988, according to data provided to Bloomberg by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. The mean score on this summer’s exam was 139.9, down from 141.5 in July 2014. “It was not unexpected,” says Erica Moeser, the president of the NCBE, which creates the multiple choice part of the test. “We are in a period where we can expect to see some decline, until the market for going to law school improves.” Read the full story.
On the way up: An index of future U.S. economic health edged up slightly in August after a flat reading in July. The Associated Press reports the outcome in both months signaled economic growth could be moderating. The Conference Board announced this morning that its index of leading indicators rose 0.1% in August following no change in July and a 0.6% jump in June. The July reading had initially been reported as a decline of 0.2%. Conference Board economist Ataman Ozyildirim says the index was signaling that growth will be moderate through the rest of the year “with little reason to expect growth to pick up substantially.” Read the full story.
