The pickup in core capital goods shipments and orders, along with an upwardly revised gain in June sales, suggests the equipment numbers that feed into GDP calculations were improving at the start of the second half of the year.

The safety rulebook has since swelled to almost 900 pages over the last 50 years and encompasses everything from electronic stability control to rear-view backup cameras ... but every rule still assumes a human will be at the wheel.

A new Energy Department study recommends that the EPA ease rules on coal plants. It also calls for changes to how wholesale electricity is traded and easier permitting for resources such as coal, nuclear and hydropower.

Automation may drive productivity gains and export competitiveness, but the rising use of robots also threatens to exacerbate domestic income inequality, undermining consumption.

Inventors warn patent rights endangered by legislation and courts.

President Donald Trump has called NAFTA the "worst trade deal in the history of the world" and says it has shipped American manufacturing jobs south of the border. In Juarez, that has residents anxious for their future.