U.S. Economic News
November 17, 2017
U.S. Economic Indicators
Privately-owned housing starts jumped 13.7% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.29 million (down 2.9% year-over-year). Housing permits rose 5.9% to a 1.30 million annual pace in October and are up 0.9% on the year. Census Bureau Report
U.S. News
The Wall Street Journal reports that House Republicans have passed their tax reform bill. Now that the House has passed its bill, the Senate must pass a bill and then the two chambers must reconcile the differences between the two bills or the House must accept the Senate’s bill in its entirety. WSJ
According to the Wall Street Journal, a new Brookings Institution paper concludes that jobs with the highest degree of digitization over the past decade have seen the fastest wage growth. The findings support the conclusion that when technology does not eliminate an occupation it often complements it, boosting worker productivity and wages. WSJ
Michael S. Derby of the Wall Street Journal writes that San Francisco Fed President John Williams argues that policymakers need to rethink how they conduct monetary policy in a changing economic and financial landscape. Williams says that the current low interest rate environment will leave the Fed little room to cut rates in the event of another economic downturn, so policymakers should consider other options for combating a recession. WSJ