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Washington, DC CNN —New home sales surged in May, as buyers looked to new construction as an alternative to the low inventory of existing homes for sale. Homeowners with ultra-low mortgage rates are reluctant to sell and buy another home at a much higher rate. Sales of existing homes have been down for the past few months, while new home sales have been rising. Mortgage rates reached as high as 6.79% at the end of May as uncertainty moved through the financial industry due to the debt ceiling standoff. This increase in mortgage rates cooled mortgage applications.

Persons: “, ”, Nancy Vanden Houten, Ryan Sweet, Eugenio Aleman, Raymond James, ” Aleman Organizations: DC CNN, US Department of Housing, Urban Development, Census Bureau, Oxford Economics, Federal Reserve Locations: Washington, Northeast, South, West

☆ CPI in May: US inflation cooled significantly — but it's still not where the Fed wants it
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The Consumer Price Index, a key inflation gauge that measures price changes for a basket of goods and services, increased 4% for the year ending in May. That represents a sharp pullback from April’s 4.9% and is slightly below economists’ expectations for a 4.1% gain, according to Refinitiv. It’s the 11th consecutive month that inflation has slowed, and it’s a welcome reprieve from the painful shock of persistently high inflation endured during the past two years. The Fed would like to see inflation (as measured by the core Personal Consumption Expenditures index) settle in at 2%. Markets are currently pricing in a 95.3% probability that the Fed pauses on Wednesday, according to CME FedWatch.

Persons: It’s, “, Nancy Vanden Houten, it’s, Chris Zaccarelli, “ They’ve, ”, Scott Olson, Vanden Houten, There’s, Kurt Rankin, ” Rankin Organizations: Minneapolis CNN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oxford Economics, CNN, Federal Reserve, Independent, CPI, Fed, FedWatch, Walmart, Federal Reserve Bank, Richmond, Hospitality, PNC Financial Services, PNC, United Locations: Minneapolis, Chicago , Illinois, United States

☆ Slower US job, wage gains expected in May
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Nevertheless, the Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday is expected to still show the labor market remaining tight. PROGRESS ON INFLATIONBut the overall labor market remains upbeat, with first time applications for state unemployment benefits hovering at very low levels. Slowing wage inflation is corroborated by other measures like the Atlanta Fed's wage tracker, which has come off its peaks. Financial markets see a nearly 70% chance of the Fed keeping its policy rate unchanged at its June 13-14 meeting, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool. The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the employment report, did not record the work stoppage in its May strike report.

Persons: Bill Adams, Brian Bethune, Nancy Vanden Houten, Lucia Mutikani, Chizu Organizations: Federal Reserve, Labor, Comerica Bank, Data, Labor Department, Atlanta, Boston College, Fed, Writers Guild of America, Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oxford Economics, Thomson Locations: y WASHINGTON, Dallas, New York

☆ US weekly jobless claims rise slightly; labor market defies recession fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

"Labor market conditions are still tight," said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics in New York. "While we expect the Fed to leave rates steady at its upcoming meeting, a more sustained loosening of labor market conditions is needed to keep rate hikes permanently off the table." Unadjusted claims increased by 5,296 to 207,941 last week, with notable rises in New York, Ohio and Illinois. While the labor market continues to surprise with strength, manufacturing is in a downward spiral. The Fed's "Beige Book" report on Wednesday described the labor market as having "continued to be strong" in May, but noted that "many contacts" were "fully staffed."

Persons: Nancy Vanden Houten, Unadjusted, nonfarm payrolls, payrolls, Christopher Rupkey, Lucia Mutikani, Chizu Nomiyama, Paul Simao Organizations: PMI, Federal Reserve, Fed, Labor, Oxford Economics, Labor Department, Reuters, Institute for Supply Management, Treasury, U.S, Thomson Locations: May WASHINGTON, U.S, New York, New York , Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts

☆ Opinion | The Housing Market Has Cooled, But It’s Not Frozen
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Peter Coy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With fewer people selling, some people who might have bought an existing home from a homeowner are instead buying a new home from a builder. Sales of new single-family homes rose in March, the Census Bureau reported on Tuesday. Given those changes, “unless you’re a person who needs to make a move, there’s little incentive” to move now, Vanden Houten told me. Of course, some people still are putting their homes on the market, and Vanden Houten herself was recently one of them. “A lot of people have earned a substantial amount of housing equity,” Lautz said.

☆ ‘We’re at a tipping point:’ What to expect from the jobs report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Minneapolis CNN —The US labor market has kept trucking right along even as other areas of the economy have slowed. ET Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics drops the heavily anticipated jobs report for March. On Wednesday, the latest private-sector jobs report from payroll processor ADP came in at 145,000 for March, landing below expectations. There still remains uncertainty about the extent to which those and other layoffs may ripple through the broader labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release its March jobs report at 8:30 a.m.

☆ ‘We’re at a tipping point:’ What to expect from the jobs report on Friday
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Minneapolis CNN —The US labor market has kept trucking right along even as other areas of the economy have slowed. Just how much of a shift there is could become even clearer on Friday when the Bureau of Labor Statistics drops the heavily anticipated jobs report for March. On Wednesday, the latest private-sector jobs report from payroll processor ADP came in at 145,000 for March, landing below expectations. There still remains uncertainty about the extent to which those and other layoffs may ripple through the broader labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to release its March jobs report on Friday at 8:30 a.m.

☆ U.S. retail sales fall after hefty gains; labor market still tight
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Economists also noted that goods prices tumbled in November, which could have weighed on retail sales last month. Retail sales fell 0.6% last month, the biggest drop since December 2021, after an unrevised 1.3% jump in October. Online retail sales decreased 0.9%, which was at odds with reports of strong Black Friday sales. Sales at food services and drinking places, the only services category in the retail sales report, increased 0.9%. Data for October was revised lower to show these so-called core retail sales increasing 0.5% instead of 0.7% as previously reported.

☆ U.S. economy rebounds in Q3 on boost from trade, but demand stalling
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

While overall inflation slowed substantially from the second quarter, underlying price pressures continued to bubble. Gross domestic product increased at a 2.6% annualized rate last quarter after contracting at a 0.6% pace in the second quarter. That was the slowest rise in this measure of domestic demand since the second quarter of 2020 and followed a 0.5% rate of increase in the second quarter. A broader measure of inflation in the economy rose at a 4.6% rate, decelerating from a 8.5% pace of increase in the second quarter. Business inventories increased at a rate of $61.9 billion after rising at a pace of $110.2 billion in the second quarter.

☆ Inflation worries hurt U.S. consumer confidence; house prices decelerating
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 102.5 this month from 107.8 in September. Consumers were also more inclined to buy a house, probably encouraged by a sharp slowdown in house price inflation. On a monthly basis, prices fell 0.9% in August, the second straight monthly drop. Prices fell 0.7% on a monthly basis after decreasing 0.6% in July. It was the first time since March 2011 that monthly prices posted back-to-back declines.

☆ U.S. existing home sales slide again in September; jobless claims fall
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Dan Burns | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

SELLERS' MARKET NO MOREExisting home sales fell 1.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.71 million units last month, the NAR said. Outside of the short-lived plunge during the spring of 2020, when the economy was reeling from the first wave of COVID-19, this was the lowest sales level since September 2012. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales would decrease to a rate of 4.70 million units. As a result, he expects the sales rate to decline further in the months ahead, perhaps to as low as 4.5 million annually, which would be roughly 4% to 5% lower than the current sales pace. "We don't look for claims to fall much below current levels, but we don't look for a significant rise in claims or unemployment either until we enter a recession in 2023."

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