U.S. Economic News
September 12, 2019
U.S. Economic Indicators
Consumer prices rose 0.1% in August (up 1.7% from a year ago). The “core” CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.3% in August and is up 2.4% from last year. BLS Report
Initial jobless claims fell 15,000 to 204,000 last week. The four-week moving average declined 4,250 to 212,500. DOL Report
U.S. News
The Wall Street Journal reports that China is aiming to narrow the scope of upcoming negotiations with the U.S. to only trade issues, hoping to separate trade talks from discussions about national security issues in an attempt to break the deadlock between the two countries. Even a more limited deal addressing strictly trade issues may still be difficult to achieve, however, as U.S. and Chinese officials are likely to disagree on which issues are categorized as trade or national security matters. WSJ
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Social Security expansion plan under consideration by House Democrats to extend the program’s solvency would raise the cap on payroll taxes from 6.2% to 7.4% over 25 years. Opposition in the Republican-led Senate make it unlikely that the proposed expansion will become law, but the debate underscores the need to address the solvency of Social Security given that the program’s trust funds are expected to be exhausted by 2035. WSJ