Capital investment slowdown in U.S. signals reluctance to hire

A slowdown in U.S. business investment may soon hit the job market, further hindering a recovery in the world’s largest economy. Capital spending, one of the few bright spots in the recovery, declined in July, according to Commerce Department figures released yesterday in Washington. Sales of new homes fell to the lowest level since data began in 1963, another report from the same agency showed, indicating a lack of jobs is crippling housing.