Struck-Down-Tariffs Week in Review
GDP growth, inflation, a SC tariff ruling, & more
The Supreme Court ruled this morning that “IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs,” which is exactly the kind of monumental news you like to see while scrambling to send out your newsletter.
While that’s the story of the week, we also got a deluge of economic data including updates on inflation, GDP growth, the trade deficit, home sales, and a lot more.
Monday
Presidents Day
43rd President George W. Bush is now writing on Substack. The poor guy only has 3,600 subscribers, about 10,000 fewer than this humble economics newsletter. What can we say? Blogging isn’t for everyone.
Tuesday
NAHB Housing Market Index
Homebuilder confidence fell in February and remains pretty low by historical standards. Slightly more than one in three builders cut prices in February (36%, to be exact). While that’s the lowest percentage since May, it still signals that home sellers are having a tough time finding buyers.
Oil Stuff
Gas prices increased for the fifth straight week but are still pretty low. Diesel prices also rose and are above $3.70/gallon for the first time since early December.
Domestic oil production inched up last week and is even closer to the November 2025 all-time high. With crude oil prices rising over the past week, production is likely to hold up well, at least in the short term.
TSA Checkpoint Travel Numbers
Air travel roared back this past week, according to TSA data, with nearly 7% more people flying than during the same week last year. This is a bullish sign.
Wednesday
New Residential Construction
Permitting for new housing units sped up in December, rising to the highest (seasonally adjusted) level since March. Despite the increase, permitting was still lower than it was in December 2024. Housing starts also picked up, but those too are down year over year.
Big picture, the housing boom of 2022 and 2023 continues to unwind. There will be another boom at some point in the future as America deals with its housing shortage and affordability issues in earnest, but we’re not there yet.
