News in end use

Elevated construction costs and rising mortgage rates are taking a toll on the pace of single-family home construction in markets across the US, according to an NAHB index.

Real GDP declined 0.2% in June, following a 0.2% increase in May. Both service-producing industries and goods-producing industries contracted.

Total construction spending during July was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,972.6 billion, 0.7% above the revised June estimate of $1,958.9 billion.

Investor home purchases declined 45% year-over-year in Q2, outpacing the 31% drop in overall homes sales during the same time period, Redfin reported.

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 187,000 in August. The unemployment rate increased 0.3 percentage point to 3.8%.

Statistics Canada reported that real GDP was nearly unchanged in 2023Q2, following a 0.6% increase in Q1. Final domestic demand increased by 0.3%.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.18%, down from last week when it averaged 7.23%, Freddie Mac reported.

Personal income (PI) increased 0.2% in July. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased less than 0.1%. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased 0.8%.

US-based employers announced 75,151 job cuts in August, a 217% increase from July, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 228,000 during the week ending August 26th, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week.