U.S. Economic News
January 25, 2018
U.S. Economic Indicators
Initial jobless claims increased 17,000 to 233,000 last week. The four-week moving average fell 3,500 to 240,000. DOL Report
New home sales fell 9.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 625,000 in December, but are 14.1% above the December 2016 rate. The median sales price increased to $335,400 and the inventory of new homes jumped to 5.7 months at the current sales rate. Census Bureau Report
U.S. News
Ben Leubsdorf of the Wall Street Journal writes that the recent recovery in U.S. business investment has been driven in large part by the rebound in oil prices. Firming oil prices and healthy global demand have spurred robust investment in nonresidential structures and equipment, including oil rigs and associated infrastructure. WSJ
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Trump administration’s infrastructure push aims to reduce regulations and permitting times in order to encourage spending on infrastructure projects. The infrastructure program proposed by the Trump administration will also seek the majority of its funding from non-federal sources, and fewer regulatory barriers will expand the pool of available funds, supporters say. WSJ