Articles

Personal income increased $90.4 billion, or 0.4 percent at a monthly rate, while consumer spending increased $104.7 billion, or 0.6 percent, in November. The increase in personal income primarily reflected increases in compensation of employees and government social benefits. Read More

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.3 percent in the third quarter of 2021, following an increase of 6.7 percent in the second quarter. Read More

“Construction activity has picked up in recent months but still has not reached the employment levels of early last year in most of the country during what has become a very tight labor market,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “If contractors had found enough qualified workers, more states would have recovered fully by now from the pandemic-induced job losses,” he added, noting that job openings at the end of October exceeded the number of workers hired into the industry that month. Read More

Single-family and multifamily housing production accelerated in November, due to strong demand for new construction. Overall housing starts increased 11.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.68 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Read More

U.S. economic output is set to expand by more than 7% annualized in the final three months of the year, up from about 2% in the previous quarter, according to early output estimates published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. That compares with expected annualized growth of about 2% in the eurozone and 4% in China for the fourth quarter, according to JPMorgan Chase. Read More

The 2021 preliminary results compiled by Prometeia based on sector data show Italian ceramic tile industry total sales volumes of around 458 million sqm (+12% on 2019), exports of around 367 million sqm (+13% on 2019 and +15% on 2020) and domestic sales of more than 91 million sqm (+9%), the latter returning to growth after a 20-year decline. The growth in exports involves virtually all the main international markets, with the strongest performances in the United States, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Read More

Transportation and logistics providers are seeking big boosts in prices for contracts for the coming year, signaling that the inflationary pressure driven by strong demand and tight capacity in freight markets is likely to persist. Read More

The Tile Installer Thin-set Standards (ITS) Verification course instructs installers, setters and finishers on industry standards and practices, manufacturers’ requirements, and proper installation methods for various tile applications that apply to ceramic tile, porcelain tile, stone tile, glass tile and other types of adhered tile materials. Read More

U.S. home values rose 1.2% from October and are now 19.3% higher than they were a year ago, a record high for any 12-month period this century. While monthly growth slowed nationally, it accelerated in 30 of the 50 largest metro areas. If this trend continues, the market cooling over the past few months may be short-lived, and this could be an unseasonably warm winter housing market. Read More

Single-family and multifamily housing production accelerated in November, due to strong demand for new construction. Overall housing starts increased 11.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.68 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. Read More