The U.S. Census Bureau shared its monthly wholesale trade statistics for January 2024 sales and inventories on March 6th. These latest figures indicate January was a weakened month for sales, both month-to-month and year-over-year.
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Chair Jerome Powell reinforced his belief on Wednesday that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate this year but that it first wants to see more evidence that inflation is falling sustainably back to the Fed’s 2% target. Powell noted that inflation is slowing for both goods and services and did not express concern about the government’s latest inflation data, which showed some pickup in price increases in January.
While high mortgage rates at the end of 2023 continued to dampen monthly appreciation in December, annual home prices reported a 5.5% gain, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index.
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The U.S. economy grew at a robust 3.2% annual pace from October through December, propelled by healthy consumer spending, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday in a slight downgrade from its initial estimate.
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A forward-looking measure of the U.S. economy continued to decline in January, but importantly, it is no longer signaling a recession in 2024, reflecting an economy outperforming expectations. However, the Conference Board’s leading economic index does project a sharp slowdown in economic activity by the second qarter.
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The U.S. Federal Reserve will cut the federal funds rate in June, according to a slim majority of economists polled by Reuters, who also said the greater risk was the first rate cut would come later than forecast rather than earlier.
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U.S. consumer-facing inflation increased 3.1% year-over-year (not seasonally adjusted), according to the Census Bureau’s latest all-items index for its monthly Consumer Price Index. That annual figure topped Wall Street Journal economists’ expectations of a 2.9% gain.
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Just a quarter of business economists and analysts expect the United States to fall into recession this year. And any downturn would likely result from an external shock — such as a conflict involving China — rather than from domestic economic factors such as higher interest rates.
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While the housing market remains interest rate driven, affordability has improved as rates have settled below 7%, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor Report from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The February report suggests the share of income required to purchase a median-priced home fell five percentage points from October’s 28-year high.
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The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in 2023 to the smallest in three years, government data showed Wednesday, while the country imported more goods from Mexico than China for the first time in about two decades.
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World Millwork Alliance (WMA) 54 TH Annual Convention & Tradeshow will hold its’ premier event at the Memphis Cook Convention Center from September 11-15, 2018. WMA will offer Veterans and Students complimentary access to the exhibit hall during Millwork Career Day on Friday, September 14, 2018 during the show hours of 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
WMA welcomes Veterans and Students to explore a career in the millwork industry. Learn from worldwide millwork professionals while viewing the finest millwork products. Meet with industry distributors and manufacturers about the opportunities in a millwork career.
Pre-registration for a name badge is available by completing a WMA Registration Form. Any local Student or Veteran who has pre-registered will pick up their complimentary “Expo – One Day Pass” with a valid student ID or Veteran ID at the WMA registration desk in the Memphis Cook Convention Center.
Veterans must show a Veteran’s Administration (VA) identification card to receive an “Expo-One Day Pass” and to gain entrance into the exhibit hall on Friday, September 14, 2018.
Students must show a valid Student photo I.D. card to receive an “Expo-One Day Pass” and to gain entrance into the exhibit hall on Friday, September 14, 2018.
Pre-registration is open until August 13, 2018; thereafter, registration is onsite at the WMA registration desk in the Memphis Cook Convention Center.
