U.S. Economic News
July 27, 2017
U.S. Economic Indicators
New orders of manufactured durable goods jumped 6.5% in June after decreasing 0.1% in May (revised), and are up 5.0% year-over-year. Excluding transportation, new orders rose 0.2% (up 4.9% Y/Y). Census Bureau Report
The U.S. Census Bureau Advance Economic Indicators Report shows that the goods deficit decreased 3.7% in June. Meanwhile, wholesale inventories and retail inventories both rose 0.6%. Census Bureau Report
Initial jobless claims increased 10,000 to 244,000 last week. The four-week moving average was also 244,000, unchanged from the previous week. DOL Report
U.S. News
The Wall Street Journal reports that Federal Reserve officials plan to begin reducing the Fed’s balance sheet “relatively soon” and unanimously voted to leave interest rates unchanged. However, Fed plans to being shrinking its balance sheet may be complicated by a looming showdown over the Federal borrowing limit, which may cause turmoil in financial markets. WSJ
According to the Wall Street Journal, persistent weakness of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies has put continued downward pressure on inflation outside of the U.S. Central bankers around the world have been attempting to stimulate inflation with loose monetary policy, but the continued appreciation of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar has been limiting these efforts. WSJ