The bottom line

Gender differences in retirement accounts

Although the gap is slowly closing, the average American woman’s retirement account is worth 38.25 percent less than the average man’s.

PBS.org

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Protecting trade secrets

More employers are requiring their employees to sign noncompete agreements, and they’re enforcing them: The number of lawsuits over such agreements has increased by 61 percent since 2002 to 760 cases last year. Employers say the agreements protect trade secrets and customer relationships, but experts say they “have a chilling effect” on entrepreneurship.

The Wall Street Journal

All-cash home sales increase

More than half of all U.S. homes sold last year and so far in 2013 were purchased with cash alone. Before the financial crisis, only 20 percent of homes sold were “all-cash sales.” The numbers reflect investors buying cheaper homes in hard-hit areas to rent out.

San Francisco Chronicle

Amazon's lost sales

Amazon.com went dark for 40 minutes this week. Extrapolating from the e-commerce giant’s most recent financial results, the outage might have cost Amazon more than $2.6 million in lost sales.

BuzzFeed.com

High teen unemployment persists

Less than a third of teenagers between 16 and 19 years old had jobs this summer, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Before the recession, more than 40 percent of teenagers held jobs.

The Wall Street Journal

Existing home sales reach a four-year high

Existing home sales hit a four-year high, rising more than 6 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million. That’s the best number since November 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Washington Post