Stocks were higher yesterday as tech shares recovered some of their recent losses while traders weighed the latest batch of economic data and news that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and  Nancy Pelosi both confirmed that they have agreed to restart stimulus negotiations that have been in a stalemate for nearly two months.

 
Sales of new U.S. single-family homes increased to their highest level in nearly 14 years in August, suggesting the housing market continued to gain momentum even as the economy’s recovery from the recession appears to be slowing. The Commerce Department said new home sales rose 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.01 million units last month, the highest level since September 2006.

And even thought Oregon’s economy is in shambles, the state’s jobless rate is 7.7% and more than 160,000 Oregonians are looking for work, nearly double the number unemployed a year ago, state tax revenues have continued growing, almost as if the pandemic never hit.  Oregon state economists called the counterintuitive results “shocking” when they released their quarterly revenue forecast. The state brought in $6.8 billion in personal income taxes from March through September, up 4.6% from the same six months of 2019 – a period when the state’s economy was in arguably its best shape ever.
 
With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, I’m Tyler Simones.