Economy

The Census Bureau's August 18, 2026 release shows July privately owned housing starts dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.239 million, down 12.4% from June and 13.5% from a year earlier, while permits climbed to 1.443 million. Completions also declined, falling 9.1% from June to 1.212 million units. The Census Bureau notes that month-to-month swings in these figures can be irregular and that six months of data are typically needed to identify a reliable trend in starts and completions.

On August 18, 2026, the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield reached an intraday peak of 5.33%, its highest level since 2007, while Japan's 10-year government bond yield touched 2.945%, a level not seen since September 1996. Both moves were reported by Reuters and CNBC from contemporaneous market data, though official closing figures for U.S. and German bonds were not available in the retrieved sources. The article also notes that several related claims, including German Bund comparisons, Japanese 30-year figures, and Treasury auction clearing yields, could not be independently verified from official sources.