Episode 55: The latest wave of delayed data shows a gently cooling labor market, stabilizing housing activity and the Federal Reserve shifting into a more patient stance.
- Employers added 64,000 jobs in November, with health care and construction doing most of the heavy lifting.
- Wages were up 3.5% from a year ago – cooler than before but still beating inflation.
- Weekly jobless claims dipped to 224,000, and the insured unemployment rate held steady at 1.2%.
- Existing home sales inched up for the third month in a row, rising 0.5% year-over-year in November, helped along by lower mortgage rates and tighter inventory.
- Mortgage applications fell about 4% last week – pretty normal for late December – with both purchase and refinancing activity still running ahead of last year.
- The average 30‑year mortgage interest rate nudged up to around 6.4%.
- Consumer sentiment was revised to 52.9 in December, with inflation expectations easing to 4.2%.
- Inflation continues to cool, with the CPI rising just 0.2% from September to November and 2.7% in the year-ending November.
- The Fed delivered another quarter‑point rate cut, putting the funds rate between 3.5% and 3.75%, and hit pause on balance‑sheet runoff while restarting Treasury purchases.
For more information on the state of the U.S. Economy, including forecasts, watch all the episodes of the Economy Express series.
