• August 16, 2017
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Builders broke ground on fewer homes in July, but new-home construction continues to grind slowly and steadily higher, supporting a gradually improving housing market. Housing starts ran at a 1.16 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. That’s 4.8% below June’s pace, and 5.6% lower compared to a year ago.

• August 15, 2017
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Sentiment among homebuilders rebounded in August after tumbling to an 8-month low in the prior month, according to an industry report out Tuesday. The monthly confidence gauge from the National Association of Home Builders jumped four points to a reading of 68.

• August 15, 2017
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Sales at retailers nationwide jumped 0.6% last month, the government said Tuesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 0.4% increase. A mysterious decline in spending at the end of the second quarter, meanwhile, vanished after fresh government revisions based on newly incorporated sales data. Retail sales actually rose 0.3% in June instead of falling

• August 15, 2017
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The New York Fed’s Empire State manufacturing index surged 15 points to 25.2, its highest in nearly three years. Economists had forecast an unchanged reading, to 9.8, on a scale in which any reading over zero indicates improvement in business conditions. The index’s sub-gauges were also strong. The shipments gauge rose 1.9 points to 12.4,

• August 11, 2017
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St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Wednesday that Fed officials have been surprised by the low inflation readings this year. He and a minority of other Fed officials want the Fed to pause from its gradual rate hikes until inflation moves higher. Fed officials had been confident that inflation would hit the 2% target

• August 11, 2017
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U.S. consumer prices remained soft for the fifth straight month in July, raising more questions about whether inflation will eventually rise to hit the Federal Reserve’s 2% annual rate target. The consumer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in July, the Labor Department said Friday. Food prices rose 0.2% in July while energy prices

• August 10, 2017
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Treasury yields lost further ground on Wednesday, as a weak reading for wholesale inflation clouded the third-quarter economic outlook and the picture for one more rate hike this year, which can be bearish on bonds.

• August 10, 2017
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Initial claims for U.S. unemployment-insurance benefits inched higher in the latest week but continued to signal a healthy labor market, according to government data released Thursday. The number of people who applied for U.S. unemployment-insurance benefits rose by 3,000 to 244,000 in the week that ended August 5, the Labor Department reported.

• August 8, 2017
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Companies hired fewer employees in June. The number of job openings rose to a fresh record in June while hiring decreased, evidence of the difficulties companies are having finding suitable employees. The Labor Department reported that openings vaulted to 6.16 million from 5.7 million in May. Hirings, however, fell, and separations also fell slightly.

• August 4, 2017
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The trade deficit shrank nearly 6% in June to an eight-month low, but the U.S. is still on track to post a bigger gap in 2017 than it did the year before. The deficit fell to $43.6 billion in June from $46.4 billion in May, the Commerce Department said Friday. Economists had forecast a $44