U.S. Economic News
December 26, 2018
U.S. News
The Wall Street Journal reports that 2018 marked the strongest year for holiday retail sales in six years according to real-time spending data. Total U.S. retail sales rose 5.1% between November 1st and December 24th from a year earlier, suggesting that the recent, sharp stock market selloff and government shutdown had little impact on consumer behavior. WSJ
Jacob M. Schlesinger of the Wall Street Journal writes that U.S. farmers and ranchers are now worried that they will begin to lose market share in Japan as Japan prepares to ease tariffs and quotas for some of America’s biggest agricultural competitors. The move comes as the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership — a trade deal that the Trump administration left in January 2017 — takes effect, lowering barriers to trade for countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile. WSJ