CNBC Economy

Strong demand and a limited supply of homes have caused home price gains to accelerate dramatically.

The inventory of homes for sale fell 19.2% annually to just 1.47 million homes for sale at the end of September.

New filings for jobless claims in the U.S. totaled 787,000 last week, nearly the lowest total since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

About 1 million fewer workers were collecting state unemployment benefits the week of Oct. 10 relative to the week prior, the Labor Department said Thursday. Much of that reduction likely isn't attributable to people returning to work.

JPMorgan Asset Management's David Kelly told CNBC the U.S. will get a stimulus package after the November presidential elections are over.

The central bank official cited several areas of concern, including slowing gains in the jobs market from the 21 million positions lost in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Homebuyer demand is incredibly strong compared with last year, but there appears to be a slight pullback this month.

Next week, the U.S. will get economic news like it has never seen before, reflecting growth that had seemed impossible, as it is likely that GDP will have risen by more than 30%.

The first rate hike by the Federal Reserve could be brought forward from around 2024-2025 to 2023-2024, said Jim Caron, a fixed income portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

The nation's homebuilders are seeing no fall chill in demand from buyers, and that has the industry more confident than ever.

First-time claims for unemployment benefits totaled 840,000 last week, higher than the 825,000 Wall Street estimate.

The central bank official said he expects defaults and bankruptcies to hit that will make the unemployment problem worse.

Morgan Stanley estimates that U.S. households have saved an extra $1.1 trillion as of August, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The work-from-home economy is likely to continue long past the coronavirus pandemic — and it doesn't come without challenges. "If I were a company planning the future of my office," says Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom, "I’d be looking to the suburbs."

A recovery that has lived by stimulus could die by stimulus, or the lack thereof, as the impasse among Washington leaders hits a new phase.

The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday released minutes from its Sept. 15-16 meeting.

Mortgage rates moved even lower last week, after setting multiple record lows over the last several months. That caused more borrowers to call their lenders and apply for a refinance, but it did not motivate homebuyers quite as much. 

As the impasse in Washington intensifies, Kashkari told CNBC that workers, businesses and governments need more cash from Congress.

"It's going to be a much slower recovery and it's disappointing that we didn't get a package done," Mester told CNBC.

Powell called Tuesday for continued aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus for an economic recovery that he said still has "a long way to go."