U.S. Economic News
May 23, 2019
U.S. Economic Indicators
Initial jobless claims decreased 1,000 to 211,000 last week. The four-week moving average fell 4,750 to 220,250. DOL Report
New home sales fell 6.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 673,000 in April, but are 7.0% above the April 2018 rate. The median sales price rose to $342,200 and the inventory of new homes rose to 5.9 months at the current sales rate. Census Bureau Report
U.S. News
The Wall Street Journal reports that minutes from the latest Fed policy meeting suggest officials are still comfortable with their wait-and-see approach and expect current weak inflation to be only temporary. The Fed downgraded its inflation forecast to just under its 2% target in the medium term, but Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pushed back against expectations that the Fed would cut rates in response. WSJ
According to Bloomberg, a new IMF study found that U.S. importers have borne almost all the cost of tariffs imposed on Chinese goods. Some of the tariffs have been passed on to U.S. consumers, while others have been absorbed by U.S. companies through lower profit margins. Bloomberg