U.S. Economic News
May 21, 2019
U.S. Economic Indicators
Existing home sales edged down 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.19 million in April and are down 4.4% compared to a year ago. NAR notes that moderate growth is expected in the near term as buyers start to take advantage of historically low mortgage rates and solid wage growth. NAR Report
U.S. News
According to the Wall Street Journal, the OECD announced Tuesday that conflicts between the U.S. and its trade partners have weakened global business investment and threaten future global economic growth. The OECD estimates that, if continued, the latest round of U.S. tariff hikes and retaliatory Chinese levies would shrink the U.S. and Chinese economies by 0.2%-0.3% by 2021. WSJ
The Financial Times reports that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated that although historically high debt burdens could severely strain businesses during a downturn, the current level of business debt is not a threat to overall financial stability. He expressed confidence that the financial system is strong enough to handle potential losses, tempering fears of an imminent corporate debt meltdown. FT