Global sales of personal luxury goods are forecast to shrink next year for the first time since the Great Recession in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week for the sixth straight week, marking new highs not seen in 15 years.

The first numbers from the 2020 census are out and they show that America’s population growth has declined to its slowest rate since the Great Depression — a total now of just under 331.5 million.

Biden is expected to pick his former rival Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation and Granholm as energy secretary. On Saturday, Dec. 19, Biden officially announced his nomination of former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm as Secretary of Energy while introducing appointees for his new climate and energy teams. Governor Granholm is just like the state she led so effectively for eight years: hard-working, resilient, and forward-thinking. I’m honored that President-elect @joeBiden has placed his faith in me as his Energy Secretary nominee. Governor Granholm also knows better than anyone how to make sure working people and organized labor are included in the clean energy transition.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistribu)FILE - In this July 28, 2016, file photo, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is poised to be nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to lead the United States Department of Energy, according to a CNN report. The United States Department of Energy is a cabinet-level department concerned with the United States’ policies regarding energy and safety in handling nuclear material. Michigan Gov. Gretchen WhitmerPresident-elect Biden is poised to nominate former Michigan Gov.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. economy plunged at an unprecedented rate this spring and even with a record rebound expected in the just-ended third quarter, the U.S. economy will likely shrink this year, the first time that has happened since the Great Recession. Economists believe the economy will expand at an annual rate of 30% in the current quarter as businesses have re-opened and millions of people have gone back to work. The government will not release its July-September GDP report until Oct. 29, just five days before the presidential election. That drop was followed by the second quarter decline of 31.4%, which was initially estimated two months ago as a drop of 32.9%, and then revised to a decline of 31.7% last month. It was still a record fall at a rate of 33.2%, but last month projections were for a decline of 34.1%.

This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Frances McDormand in a scene from the film "Nomadland" by Chloe Zhao. (Searchlight Pictures via AP)After picking up Venice's Golden Lion award, Chloé Zhao’s “ Nomadland " has won another prestigious honor: The Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award. Zhao's film features Frances McDormand as a widowed wanderer of the modern American West. Set for a Dec. 4 release, “Nomadland” has already been hailed as a top Oscar contender, but winning the audience award at TIFF is promising for its Oscar chances. Other People's Choice winners include Michelle Latimer's documentary “Inconvenient Indian," about Indigenous peoples in North America, and Roseanne Liang's midnight madness selection “Shadow in the Cloud," with Chloë Grace Moretz.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday. The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 billion set in 2009. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting the deficit this year will hit a record $3.3 trillion. The previous record deficit for a fiscal year was $1.4 trillion in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Spending totaled $6.05 trillion, up from $4.16 trillion for the same period last year.

LANSING, Mich. – A record 129,000 Michiganders filed claims for unemployment benefits last week amid fallout from jobs lost due to the virus outbreak. The number of applications shattered the previous high of 77,000 in January 2009, during the Great Recession, which hit the state especially hard. With layoffs mounting, a major expansion of unemployment benefits was included in an economic relief bill nearing final approval in Congress. Michigan's Unemployment Insurance Agency, citing a tremendous number of calls, said this week that people were getting a busy signal and its website was slowing down at times. Nearly 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, almost five times the previous record set in 1982.