Many Fed officials supported extending the central bank's guidance for the likely timing of an eventual interest rate hike, currently set at late 2014, further into the future. But they decided to defer the decision to the Fed's Sept. 12-13 meeting, when the central bank will release a new round of economic forecasts.

The Congressional Budget Office said failure to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" of expiring tax cuts and automatic spending reductions would cause the gross domestic product to shrink 0.5 percent in 2013. Previously, the nonpartisan CBO forecast full-year GDP growth of 0.5 percent.

For the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, the agency shaved its U.S. budget deficit forecast to $1.128 trillion from $1.171 trillion, mostly due to lower-than-expected spending for Medicare and Medicaid.

The U.S. government will run a budget deficit of $1.1 trillion in fiscal 2012, or 7.3% of gross domestic product, the Congressional Budget Office estimated in a new report on Wednesday. The new deficit estimate is slightly lower than the agency's March estimate of $1.2 trillion.�

The U.S. economy will contract instead of expanding in 2013 if scheduled tax hikes and spending cuts go into effect in January, the Congressional Budget Office warned on Wednesday.

Cheap prices and rock-bottom interest rates have helped boost demand, especially among younger couples who put off home ownership in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 recession. The median price of new homes, for example, dropped 2.1% to $224,200 last month from $229,100 in June.

If the current sales pace remains constant over the next five months, economists say the industry could add to the nation’s growth in 2012 for the first time in several years.

Yet the housing market is still weak by historical standards despite gathering momentum. If the U.S. were growing at a healthy pace, economist say, new home sales would likely average more than 1 million a year. Sales typically surge after a recession ends, but that didn’t happen after the last downturn.

Firms are simply not willing to pull the trigger on big discretionary investment projects until they have more clarity on the policy backdrop for the next four years

Looking ahead, there‘s little reason to believe orders will accelerate rapidly anytime soon. One big reason is the threat of the so-called fiscal cliff � the prospect of higher taxes and deep government spending cuts slated to kick in on Jan. 1 unless Washington rescinds them.

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