In the housing sector, single-family construction permits and sales of both new and existing homes increased in June and July, and have returned to pre-pandemic levels. In the consumption sector, goods spending posted robust gains in both June and July, and is now well above pre-crisis levels.
The data on business investment—including shipments of nondefense capital goods for June and July—have also surprised to the upside. 19 After falling by 22.2 million over March and April, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 7.5 million over May and June and by 1.8 million in July.