By Jeff Cox, CNBC U.S. homebuilding unexpectedly rose in March, but starts for single-family housing tumbled amid rising mortgage rates. Housing starts increased 0.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.793 million units last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Data for February was revised higher to a
By Patti Domm, CNBC Consumer price inflation in March is expected to have spiked the most since December 1981, driven by higher food costs, rising rents and runaway energy prices. The consumer price index will be released Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET, and economists expect a monthly jump of 1.1%
By Diana Olick, CNBC The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage hit 4.72% on Tuesday, moving 26 basis points higher since just Friday, according to Mortgage News Daily. As a result of the recent spike in rates, economists are now lowering their home sales forecasts for this year.
By Thomas Franck, CNBC There may be plenty of reasons to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominees to the Federal Reserve, but economists say concern that the central bank won’t act to rein in inflation shouldn’t be among them. It is virtually guaranteed that the Fed will hike interest rates next
By Diana Olick, CNBC Homebuyers are facing one of the priciest housing markets in history, and that means they need larger mortgages than ever before. While mortgage demand is falling, due to rising interest rates, the size of the average purchase loan application just set a record. Mortgage applications to
By Jeff Cox, CNBC Consumers ended 2021 with record levels of debt, leading into a year in which interest rates are expected to rise substantially. Total U.S. consumer debt at the end of the year came to $15.6 trillion, a year-over-year jump of $333 billion during the fourth quarter and
By Jeff Cox, CNBC Companies cut jobs in January for the first time in more than a year as the spread of the Covid omicron variant appeared to hit hiring, payroll processing firm ADP reported Wednesday. Private payrolls fell by 301,000 for the month, well below the Dow Jones estimate
The number of people filing for unemployment benefits jumped last week to the highest level since October, the Labor Department said Thursday. That may signal a troubling rebound, after claims hit recent lows unseen in over 50 years. But the one-week bump may not portend an ugly trend for the
Governor Kathy Hochul on January 5 announced a $10 billion multi-year investment in healthcare, the largest in State history, to rebuild and grow the healthcare workforce and strengthen the healthcare system as part of the 2022 State of the State. The plan will invest $10 billion in New York State’s
By Jeff Cox, CNBC The U.S. economy created far fewer jobs than expected in November, in a sign that hiring started to slow even ahead of the new Covid threat, the Labor Department reported Friday. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 210,000 for the month, though the unemployment rate fell sharply
