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Last week Atlas posted this note regarding the Edelman Trust Barometer illustrating Americans’ distrust of the media, corporations, non-government organizations (NGOs), and the government itself. 

Prices continued rising at a moderate pace in December 2019 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Their Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent in the final 31 days of the decade.  This final uptick helped push the year-over-year tally to 2.3 percent which is faster than the 1.9 percent rate of change in 2018.

Small business confidence remains high by longer-term standards but has been waning relative to its all-time high.  The National Federation of Independent Business’ Optimism Index declined two points in December 2019 to 102.7 after rising 2.3 points in November.  Despite all the recent gyrations, this index has moved very little over the past three years.

America’s labor situation has been one of the economy’s highlights since it began recovering after the Great Recession.  Last year (2019) ended the decade by adding 2.11 million net new jobs, including December’s uptick of 145,000 according the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  The unemployment rate held steady at 3.5 percent.

America’s Treasury Department removed the designation of currency manipulator from China five months after the moniker was given.  This seems reasonable since the two countries were in the process of negotiating the now-signed “phase one” portion of a larger trade agreement.  Pejorative monikers probably don’t make deliberations easier.

America’s trade balance improved in November 2019 according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.  The nation’s deficit improved to $43.1 billion from the upwardly revised count of $46.9 billion (originally $47.2 billion).  In short, both sides of the ledger improved for America as imports fell while exports increased. 

Durable Goods Orders declined in November 2019 according to the Census Bureau.  This measure for orders of wares expected to last three years or longer fell 2.0 percent in the month alone.  Year-over-year, the tally is even worse, down 3.8 percent. Ouch!  However, it isn’t as bad as the headline suggests. 

Sales of new homes improved 1.3 percent to 719,000 units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis in November 2019 according to the Census Bureau.  However, the uptick did require one caveat, a 23,000 unit downward revision to October’s tally to 710,000.  Year-over-year, transactions are up 16.9 percent.