Rover's Weekly Market Brief - 08/28/2026

August 28, 2026 Stock Rover Staff  Printer Friendly

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Economy

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that sales of newly built single-family homes fell 10.5% month-over-month in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 607,000, down from June’s rate of 678,000 and 6.3% lower than a year earlier. On a regional basis, sales rebounded in the Northeast (+30.3%) and West (+6.2%), but showed steep declines in the Midwest (-42.7%) and South (-13.0%). Pricing trends were mixed: the average sales price rose 4.1% for the month to $508,800 (+5.4% year-over-year), while the median sales price slipped 2.3% from June to $393,800 (-0.9% year-over-year). Meanwhile, the inventory of unsold homes grew to a 9.6-month supply, up from 8.5 months in June, with total available units ending the month at 488,000, down 1.6% from July 2025.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new orders for manufactured durable goods rose 1.1% month-over-month in July to $339.3 billion, building on a 0.5% gain in June and pushing year-to-date orders up 7.6% compared to the same period in 2025. The monthly expansion was driven by transportation equipment, which snapped a two-month decline to rise 2.3% (+$2.6 billion) to $116.2 billion. Stripping out transportation, new orders edged up 0.4%, while nondefense orders grew 1.3%. Across broader manufacturing metrics, total shipments gained 1.0% to $334.7 billion (+8.4% year-to-date), unfilled orders edged up 0.6% to $1.60 trillion, and inventories increased 0.4% to $604.4 billion. Core capital goods (nondefense orders excluding aircraft) advanced 0.2% to $85.9 billion, as corresponding shipments rose 1.4% to $84.5 billion.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis second estimate for second-quarter 2026 gross domestic product (GDP) confirmed that the economy expanded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.5%, matching the pace reported in the advance estimate and decelerating from the 2.1% growth recorded in Q1 2026. Second-quarter expansion was driven by gains in consumer spending, exports, and investment, though these were partially offset by falling government expenditures and rising imports. Internal revisions showed an upward shift in healthcare-driven consumer services offset by higher imports, lifting real final sales to private domestic purchasers to 4.2% (+0.3 percentage points). On the inflation front, the gross domestic purchases price index picked up to 5.8% (+0.1 percentage points), while the headline PCE price index rose 5.3% and core PCE (excluding food and energy) climbed to 3.6%, with both PCE measures revised upward by 0.2 percentage points.

Upcoming Economic Reports:

Wednesday September 2 – Factory Orders (MoM) (July)

Friday September 4 – Unemployment Rate (August)

Earnings Calendar: