In April, sales of existing U.S. homes essentially did not grow above March’s total, ticking up just 0.2 percent at the beginning of what is usually the real estate’s prime selling season, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported. April’s sales also were flat compared to sales in April 2025.
Car loans, credit card accounts, mortgages, student loans, and other debt held by U.S. individuals climbed to a record $18.8 trillion in last year’s final quarter of 2025, an increase of $4.6 trillion from 31 December 2019, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls added 115,000 workers in April, more than twice the 55,000-consensus forecast by economists in a Dow Jones survey.
After touching a record low in April, the University of Michigan’s monthly survey of consumer sentiment fell even lower in the May preliminary poll, sinking to a reading of 48.2.
On 1 May, the NASDAQ and Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at record highs yet again on strong earnings, gains in tech, and lower oil prices.
The boom in building AI data centers has spurred demand for Caterpillar’s earth-moving equipment, engines, and generators, boosting revenue in its construction equipment business by 38 percent in the most recent quarter and in its power-and-energy division by 22 percent, the company reported.
This year, U.S. farmers are growing more soybeans and less corn.
As prices for everything from shoes to electronics keep rising, more Americans are buying grocery staples in bulk and foregoing new clothes, shifting spending to experiences “because we’ll always remember them,” one woman told The Wall Street Journal.
Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025 largely because voters believed his promises that he would somehow lower the cost of living “quickly from Day One.”