Articles

Spending on the construction of buildings increased by over 20 percent last year. Some sectors that saw outsized gains included manufacturing (up a whopping 70 percent) due to onshoring and federal funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, lodging (up 20 percent), healthcare (up almost 15 percent), and education (also up almost 15 percent). Read More

Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau today shows that retail sales cooled in January but that households continued to spend, National Retail Federation chief economist Jack Kleinhenz said. Read More

Mohawk net sales for Q4 2023 were $2.6 billion, a decrease of 1.4% compared to net sales of $2.7 billion in the same period last year. Q4 2023 net earnings were $139 million, an increase of 421% compared to net earnings of $33 million in Q4 2022. Read More

In 2023, total U.S. imports of ceramic were 185.7 million square meters, a decline of 8.2% from the year 2022 when imports were 202.3 million square meters, according to Grosser Consulting. Read More

U.S. floor coverings sales could have turned the corner in the fourth quarter of 2023 after seeing declining sales over the first three quarters of the year. Based on monthly data, Catalina estimates U.S. floor covering manufacturer dollar sales (shipments minus exports plus imports) could have increased by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, while square foot sales could have risen by 1.9 percent. Read More

The construction industry added 11,000 jobs on net in January, 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 has expanded by 216,000 jobs, an increase of 2.7%. Read More

Consumer sentiment rose to 79.0 in January, a 13.3% increase from December, according to final results from the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. This represents a 21.7% increase year over year. Read More

"The Federal Reserve signaled it was thinking about when to lower interest rates but hinted a cut wasn’t imminent when it held rates steady at its first policy meeting of the year on Wednesday,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Read More

The construction industry will need to attract an estimated 501,000 additional workers on top of the normal pace of hiring in 2024 to meet the demand for labor, according to a proprietary model developed by Associated Builders and Contractors Read More

"The recession never showed up in 2023. Consumers made sure of it,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “The U.S. economy grew 3.1% over the past year, the Commerce Department said Thursday. A resilient labor market supported strong consumer spending and brushed aside a feared downturn. A year ago economists saw a recession as very likely and projected anemic 0.2% growth for the year. Instead, last year’s gain was a sharp pickup from a comparable 0.7% advance in 2022. Read More