U.S. Economic News
June 18, 2018
U.S. Economic Indicators
The NAHB Housing Market Index declined 2.0 points to 68.0 in June. Builder confidence weakened due to recent tariffs on key homebuilding inputs, like timber. NAHB Report
U.S. News
The Financial Times reports that rising interest rates may mark the end of the current era in which companies with weak balance sheets have been outperforming their peers with stronger balance sheets. Analysts have found that shares of well-capitalized firms have outperformed shares of highly-leveraged firms, likely because of the costs associated with servicing debt in a rising interest rate environment. FT
According to the Wall Street Journal, companies across the U.S. are reexamining and reorganizing supply chains as shipping costs skyrocket. Some firms have established their own trucking fleets, eliminated delivery redundancies, and built new distribution centers to offset rising shipping costs. WSJ