News Briefs

The Wall Street Journal reports that new Federal Reserve data show that U.S. household wealth reached a new record of $96.2 trillion in the second quarter. Stock market wealth accounted for most of the rise, gaining $1.1 trillion, while the value of real estate rose $564 billion. WSJ

According to the Wall Street Journal, OPEC is struggling to restrain oil output from Libya and Nigeria, who are both exempt from the cartel’s production limits. When OPEC’s members reached their production agreement last year both of the countries were mired by civil unrest, though they now have managed to restart production, threatening to worsen the global crude oil supply glut. WSJ

In a Washington Post op-ed Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross argues that NAFTA needs updated “rules of origin” requirements to ensure that more U.S. inputs are used in finished goods. Ross writes that NAFTA has worsened the U.S. trade deficit in automobiles and parts and, unless NAFTA is renegotiated, the U.S. auto industry will continue to suffer. WaPo