U.S. Economic News
October 1, 2018
U.S. Economic Indicators
The ISM Manufacturing Index decreased 1.5 percentage points to 59.8 in September. The Employment Index edged up 0.3 percentage point to 58.8 while the New Orders Index decreased 3.3 percentage points to 61.8. ISM Report
Construction spending inched up 0.1% in August to an annualized rate of $1.32 trillion. Public construction rose 2.0% while private construction edged down 0.5%. Census Report
U.S. News
The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. and Canada reached a last-minute NAFTA deal late Sunday night. The deal — officially called the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement — requires a greater portion of vehicles to be made in North America with high-wage labor and also requires Canada to drop some protections for its dairy industry. WSJ
Sarah Chaney of the Wall Street Journal writes that the U.S. labor market currently has the lowest share of involuntary part-time workers since 2006. The broad unemployment rate — which includes part-time and discouraged workers — fell to 7.4% in August, its lowest point since 2001 and a sign that slack continues to be wrung out of the labor market as part-time workers find full-time jobs. WSJ