Daily Rundown
- Chief Strategist, Bryan Jordan CFA
- 11 minutes ago
- 1 min read
August 18, 2026
Chart of the Day
Number of the Day
35.9
The spread between the Empire State manufacturing survey’s prices paid and prices received indices in August, up from 24.7 points in the prior month and the largest since April 2022
Quote of the Day
“Our latest builder survey continues to show signs of weakness in the home building market. August marked the 16th straight month that at least 30 percent of builders reported cutting prices to support demand...”
NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz
Monday’s Highlights
The NAHB home builder sentiment index (August) ticked up to 35.0 from a prior 34.0.
The Empire State manufacturing survey (August) rose by 5.0 points to 20.6, highest since late 2021.
Quick Commentary
While the housing market remains dormant, the manufacturing sector continues to solidify on the back of the AI boom. It is telling, however, that prices paid measures are running well ahead of prices received indices, a sign that pricing power is limited as producers to this point are still not fully passing on the recent pickup in wholesale inflation.
Today’s Highlights
Housing starts
Industrial production
Import prices
Pending home sales
Daily Trivia
What natural item sparked a mania among collectors in 19th century Europe due to its perceived rarity, with one example selling for the modern equivalent of $17,000 in 1825?
(Monday’s Question: What landmark social media artifact was sold as an NFT for $2.9 million in 2021 before its value crashed to less than $10 in the following year? Answer: Twitter’s first tweet)