U.S. Economic News
May 23, 2017
U.S. Economic Indicators
New home sales fell 11.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 569,000 in April, but are 0.5% above the April 2016 rate. The median sales price declined to $309,200 and the inventory of new homes rose to 5.7 months at the current sales rate. Census Bureau Report
U.S. News
Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said yesterday that it is unclear whether labor markets have reached “full employment” yet. Brainard noted that core inflation has shown few signs of accelerating even as the unemployment rate has fallen to decade lows, indicating that there may still be more room for labor markets to tighten. WSJ
The Financial Times reports that President Trump is submitting his budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 to Congress. The budget is expected to seek deep cuts to many executive agencies and will also include a proposal to sell off half of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (“SPR”). FT