Commerce Department

Orders for long-lasting goods rose last month, reflecting a pickup in demand despite other signs pointing to a cooling economy. New orders for durable goods—products meant to last at least three years—rose 1.9% in June to a seasonally adjusted $272.6 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The increase was seen across most categories, including motor vehicles and military aircraft. Excluding defense, orders were up a more modest 0.4%.…

Residential construction in the U.S. slowed for the second straight month in June, as both housing starts and the number of building permits issued declined. Housing starts fell 2% to a seasonally adjusted 1.56 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected housing starts to rise 1.4%. Building permits slipped 0.6% to 1.69 million, but held 1.4% higher than the figure in the prior year. The drops came as interest rates climbed and a…

June’s increase came after sales declined slightly in May, the Commerce Department said Friday.Consumers spent more last month across a broad range of goods, including furniture, groceries and gas. They also spent more at restaurants. Spending declined at building-supply, clothing and department stores. Some of the growth in retail sales last month likely reflects that consumers were paying higher prices for goods and services. Unlike many other economic-data reports produced by the U.S.…

Five people familiar with the matter said the Biden administration is considering new targeted restrictions on shipments of chipmaking tools to China, seeking to hamstring advances by China's largest chipmaker, SMIC, without slowing the flow of chips into the global economy. The Commerce Department, which oversees export policy, is actively discussing the possibility of banning exports of chipmaking tools to those Chinese factories that make advanced semiconductors at the 14 nanometer node and smaller, the people said,…

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed for the second straight month in May, as a decrease in goods spending by American households held down import growth while exports of energy products increased. The trade gap in goods and services shrank 1.3% in May from the previous month to $85.5 billion, the Commerce Department said Thursday, down from April’s revised $86.7 billion. Imports rose 0.6% to $341.4 billion, driven by a rise in crude oil imports.…

As Russia and China have worked their way up the list of U.S. national-security concerns, successive administrations have placed greater weight on regulations designed to keep sensitive U.S. technology out of the hands of geopolitical rivals.Now, the agency in charge of enforcing those rules is trying to give them sharper teeth, including by imposing bigger fines on companies that mishandle restricted technology and by pouring resources into investigating the most serious violations. The policy changes are part of an…

U.S. household spending slowed in May as Americans faced historically high inflation, raising the prospect that the economy could contract for a second straight quarter this year.Consumer spending cooled to a 0.2% advance in May, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was the smallest monthly gain this year, and down from the revised 0.6% increase in April. U.S. household spending slowed in May as Americans faced historically high inflation, raising the prospect that the economy could contract for a second…

Americans’ retail spending declined in May, as consumers felt the pinch from inflation, higher gasoline prices and rising interest rates that make car purchases more expensive.Retail sales—a measure of spending at stores, online and in restaurants—fell a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in May from the previous month, dropping from April’s revised 0.7% increase, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. A sharp drop in vehicle sales—due to high prices, low inventory and rising interest on car loans—played an outsize role in the…

WASHINGTON—The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in April as imports fell sharply, reflecting a moderating appetite for foreign goods and materials from American consumers and businesses. The trade gap in goods and services fell to 19.1% in April from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted $87.1 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, retreating from March’s record $107.7 billion deficit. Imports fell 3.4% to $339.7 billion, the first month-on-month decline since July…

Seeking to resolve a conflict in the solar industry, the White House plans to waive some tariffs on solar imports to ensure steady supplies while invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic manufacturing of solar parts. “It is going to put wind in the sails of construction projects all across the country,” a senior administration official said Monday. “We are going to grow and we aren’t playing for second place here.” The two-year waiver on tariffs is aimed at…