US residential construction, driven by a surge in new multi-family projects, increased by a solid 6.5% in September, the Census Bureau reports. The rise beat forecasts and signals that the housing market remained on a recovery track. At the same time, newly issued building permits dipped 5% last month, suggesting that the housing market’s growth will remain moderate.
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The on-again-off-again economic recovery is having a tough time convincing the crowd to price in higher US Treasury yields, but maybe political gridlock in Washington can push rates higher. In fact, some of the short maturity Treasuries that are thought to be at risk of not being repaid because of debt-ceiling uncertainty have endured selling to the point that their yields have shot up to two-year highs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Dysfunctional politics in Washington is old news, but perhaps there’s a new if not-entirely intentional byproduct: higher rates.
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● US homebuilder confidence rises to 10yr high in Oct | The Atlantic
● SF Fed President Williams sees case for US rate hike soon | Bloomberg
● Treasury Secretary Lew is worried about Nov. 3 debt ceiling deadline | CNBC
● T-bill yields rise to 2-Year high on debt-ceiling worries | WSJ
● Lending standards continue to ease in Eurozone | RTE
● Germany’s deflation in factory prices rolls on in Sep | MarketWatch
● Trudeau’s election as PM leads Liberals back to power in Canada | BBC