Articles

Flooring Industry “Aims for the Ceiling” at the Inaugural Sustainability Summit in Washington, DC Read More

The construction industry added 25,000 jobs on net in September, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a year-over-year basis, industry employment is up by 238,000 jobs, an increase of 3.0%. Read More

The twelfth edition of the study “World production and consumption of ceramic tiles” produced by MECS / Acimac Research Centre is due to be published in October. Consisting of almost 300 pages of charts, tables and commentary, the study provides detailed analysis of the trends occurring over the ten-year period to 2023 in terms of industry, markets, per capita consumption and export flows in geographical macro-regions and in the 76 largest tile producer, consumer, exporter and importer countries. It includes an in-depth analysis of the breakdown of import and export volumes for each individual country by product type (porcelain stoneware, single and double-fired tiles, other materials). Read More

"Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said officials would continue to reduce interest rates from a two-decade high to maintain solid economic growth, but they didn’t currently see a reason to lower rates as aggressively as they did at their most recent meeting,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Read More

Houzz Inc. has released the 2024 U.S. Houzz Bathroom Trends Study. The survey of more than 1,200 respondents found that homeowners are increasingly prioritizing their personal needs during primary bathroom renovations with the share of those focused on resale value dropping by five percentage points (26% in 2024 versus 31% in 2023). Additionally, the share of homeowners renovating to make their space more accommodating increased by four points, reaching 27%. Read More

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has issued the following news release today: Personal income increased $50.5 billion (0.2 percent at a monthly rate) in August. Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes— increased $34.2 billion (0.2 percent). Read More

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 3.0 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to the "third" estimate. In the first quarter, real GDP increased 1.6 percent (revised). Read More

The luxury vinyl tile (LVT) segment has seen extreme growth since its introduction to market. Although commonly produced in Asia, the product is becoming more global as technology transforms the category. Digital printing, eco-friendly features and modernized design capabilities are among the enhanced attributes. Read More

This is to provide you with another update on today’s trade and tariff developments that can have a substantial impact on the business of CTDA members who are importers. These developments concern the Countervailing Duty (“CVD”) and Antidumping (“AD”) Cases involving Ceramic Tile from India, Case Nos. C-533-929 and A-533-928. These cases were initiated and prosecuted by the Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile. Read More

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday for the first time since early 2020, the clearest signal yet that central bankers believe they are winning their years long battle against rapid inflation. Fed officials slashed borrowing costs by half a percentage point, an unusually large reduction. The decision lowers rates to about 4.9 percent, down from a more than two-decade high. Read More