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Durable Goods Orders for June 2017

America is quickly approaching its debt limit, and some market participants are concerned.  Their worry stems from the possibility that our nation will be unable to pay debts that mature soon.  According to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, the Treasury will run out of money in early to mid-October.  For the first time since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, the

Sales of new homes improved slightly in June 2017 according to data from the Census Bureau.  Signed contracts totaled 610,000 on an annualized basis, an uptick of 5,000 compared to May’s downwardly revised tally (originally 610,000 as well).  Additionally, the year-over-year figure improved to 9.1 percent from 8.0 percent a month earlier, so the upward trend appears to be firmly

Sales of existing homes dipped in June 2017 according to the National Association of Realtors. Declining 1.8 percent, this latest month gave back all of May’s uptick and then some. Coming in at 5.62 million units, June’s tally is the second lowest of this year, better than only February’s count of 5.47 million.

Retail Sales declined for a second consecutive month in June 2017 according to data from the Census Bureau. Following May’s upwardly revised decline of 0.1 percent (originally -0.3 percent), this indicator dropped 0.2 percent. Not only was the monthly change negative, but the year-over-year trend decelerated to just 2.8 percent from 4.1 percent in the prior period.
 

Teachers are some of the most influential people in our lives.  Parents are often our earliest exposure to the role, imparting life’s essential information: things like eating, walking, and basic communications.  As we grow older, our paths cross with a growing number of teachers until we meet our first formal educator.  This initial professional might be affiliated with a

Prices paid by Americans were virtually unchanged in June 2017 according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This measure of inflation has been weak lately, posting a gain in just one (April +0.2 percent) of the past four months.

Increasing for a fifth consecutive period, industrial production rose 0.4 percent in June 2107.  Released by the Federal Reserve, this indicator measures everything physically produced in America, from paperclips to sophisticated aerospace equipment.  Also included in the release is capacity utilization which quantifies how much of the country’s resources for physical output are

Prices paid by producers and wholesalers edged higher in June 2017 according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. After remaining unchanged in May, the Producer Price Index (PPI) managed an uptick of just 0.1 percent. Compared to a year earlier, this price proxy is 2.0 percent higher, falling from 2.4 percent in the prior month.

Washington D. C. seems to have a lot of influence on the way business owners feel. Small Business Optimism, as measured by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), jumped immediately after the presidential election.