LAST WEEK

News & Commentary Weekly Highlights:

• Wall Street Journal: Why It Matters That New Businesses Are Creating Jobs More Slowly Than a Decade Ago (Thursday)
• Forbes: A Downgraded Obamacare Baseline (Thursday)
• Bloomberg Business: Americans’ Outlook for Economy Holds Close to a 13-Month Low (Thursday)
• Wall Street Journal: China, Japan Shed U.S. Treasury Holdings (Wednesday)
• Market Watch: The Middling U.S. Economy Sticks to the Center Lane (Monday)

 

Top Economic Indicator Highlights:

Housing Starts and Building Permits (October)

• Starts (annual rate): 1,060,000 units, M/M % change: -11.0%
• Permits (annual rate): 1,150,000 units, M/M % change: +4.1%
• Noteworthy: Housing starts fell to a lower than expected level in October, pulled down by a large drop in multi-family homes and a less severe decline in single family homes. However, housing permits were more positive, with single-family permits up 2.4% and multi-family permits up 6.8%.
• Series Detail: A housing start is registered at start of construction of a new, primarily residential, building. The start of construction is registered at the beginning of excavation for the building foundation.

 

THIS WEEK

Upcoming Economic Reports & Releases:

Major Indicators

• Existing Home Sales (10am, Monday)
• GDP (8:30am, Tuesday)
• International Trade in Goods (8:30am, Tuesday)
• S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (9am, Tuesday)
• Durable Goods Orders (8:30am, Wednesday)
• Personal Income and Outlays (8:30am, Wednesday)
• New Home Sales (10am, Wednesday)

 

Chart of the Week:

The chart above shows that the unemployment rate for the Millennial Generation is nearly twice the rate of the other generations. Millennials represent the largest single generation in the workforce and the population, comprising roughly one in three workers in the workforce. Generation X is the next most populous, followed closely by Baby Boomers. A large majority of older generations are retired.