U.S. Economic News
April 4, 2018
U.S. Economic Indicators
The ADP Employment Report shows that private-sector employment increased by 241,000 jobs in March, well above expectations of 185,000. The services sector added 176,000 jobs and the goods-producing sector added 65,000 jobs. ADP Report
The ISM Non-Manufacturing Index edged down 0.7 percentage point to 58.8 in March. The New Orders Index fell 5.3 percentage points to 59.5 while the Employment Index rose 1.6 percentage points to 56.6. ISM Report
New factory orders for manufactured goods rose 1.2% in February following a 1.3% decline in January, and are up 7.9% on the year. New orders excluding transportation edged up 0.1% while new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft rose 1.4%. Census Bureau Report
U.S. News
The Wall Street Journal reports that a growing share of apartment renters have no interest in owning a home as worsening affordability and rising mortgage rates pressure markets. Survey results show that 20% of apartment renters have no interest in owning a home, up from 17% in August and 13% in 2016. WSJ
According to the Wall Street Journal, China has announced retaliatory tariffs on roughly $50 billion of American goods, including soybeans, cars, and planes. The actions come in response to recently-announced U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports that U.S. officials say are driven by unfair trade practices in China, including forced technology transfer and intellectual property theft. WSJ