Housing Starts inched higher in July, reaching a new post-recession peak of 1.206 million units (seasonally adjusted annual terms). That’s encouraging, but the news is tempered by the sharp deceleration in the year-over-year trend. The net result: residential construction activity continues to increase, but it’s still not clear that we’ll see much more than modest growth at best in the near term.
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Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer last week advised that “a large part of the current [low] inflation is temporary.” Speaking to Bloomberg TV, he explained that “these things will stabilize at some point, so we’re not going to be as low as we are forever.” Based on recent action in the Treasury market, however, the crowd’s still expecting low-flation to roll on for the near term.
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● US home builder confidence inches up in Aug, close to 10-year high
● NY Fed mfg. index crumbles in Aug–lowest since 2009
● Moody’s: global growth will be muted for next 2 years
● UK inflation perks up from zero
● China’s currency and Asian stocks fall on Tuesday