Hamas accepts a temporary ceasefire after rejecting a proposal to end the war.
This plan really comes with this looming Israeli threat of basically a military invasion and takeover of Gaza City,
where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are believed to be sheltering and some Israeli hostages are believed to be held.
Plus, Home Depot says it will raise some prices due to tariffs.
And a leading pediatrics group is recommending COVID shots for young children diverging from federal health guidelines.
It's Tuesday, August 19th.
I'm Sabrina Siddiqui for The Wall Street Journal, covering for Alex Osola.
This is the PM edition of What's News,
the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.
Home building in the U.S. increased last month,
contradicting expectations that it would fall amid a fragile housing market.
According to a report released by the Commerce Department today,
housing starts, a gauge of new residential construction,
rose to $1.428 million in July from an upwardly revised $1.358 million in June.
Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had anticipated a lower $1.3 million starts.
Today's report says the housing starts were 12.9 percent higher than a year earlier.
But residential permits, another measure of trends in housing construction,
fell short of forecasts and slipped to $1.354 million from a downwardly revised $1.393 million in June.
The National Association of Home Builders said the increase in housing starts occurred despite a slight decline in builder sentiment due to persistently high mortgage rates.
Tariffs will soon start hitting some price tags at Home Depot.