Personal finance website NerdWallet.com said Rhode Island’s capital city was the second most expensive in the United States, according to its “Quarter Pounder Index,” a basic cost-of-living guide that uses the price of a McDonald’s quarter pounder with cheese to gauge the cost-of-living differences between U.S. cities. more

The Rhode Island Current Economic Indicator Index, released by the R.I. Public Expenditure Council and Bryant University’s Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies on Monday, reported that Rhode Island economic growth expanded at a more robust rate than estimated during the first quarter of 2013. more

Single-family home sales in Bristol County, Mass., jumped 26.34 percent in April compared with the same period in 2012, The Warren Group said Wednesday. more

Big exports are possible in the smallest state. more

Even though a large portion of American companies have for many years been outsourcing operations to Central America, Asia and other countries around the globe, Nordson Engineered Fluid Dispensing has continued to hold onto its customers. more

Orders for U.S. durable goods increased more than forecast in April, pointing to gains in business investment that will help manufacturing rebound in the second half of the year. more

Rhode Island’s economic outlook ranked No. 45 among the 50 states according to the 2013 ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index released by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Rhode Island’s No. 45 rank represented a slip from last year’s report, in which the Ocean State ranked No. 43. more

The Providence-Fall River-New Bedford area foreclosure rate fell 0.11 percentage points for March compared with the same period in 2012, CoreLogic said Thursday. more

Even though Rhode Island has gained some economic strength in 2013, the Ocean State “still lags behind other states in New England when looking at major economic indicators such as growth of the gross state product and the unemployment rate,” according to the spring 2013 New England Economic Outlook report from the New England Economic Partnership. more

Last week’s World Trade Day, the 28th edition of the annual Bryant University event, and the largest of its kind in the Northeast, if not the country, had an added bonus. more