Hello Brick Brief readers, 

Happy Friday. In today’s news, 

A planned revision to the Fed's preferred inflation gauge could reduce core PCE by up to 0.3 percentage points – The changes may strengthen the case for holding interest rates steady this year (Bloomberg)

Fed's Williams says energy prices are likely near their peak and should decline over the next 6 to 12 months despite renewed Middle East conflict – The Fed will remain data dependent when making future interest rate decisions (Reuters)

U.S. existing home sales fell 2.4% MoM to a 4.09M annualized rate in June – The median existing home price rose 1.8% YoY to a record $440,600 as inventory slipped to 1.56M homes (Reuters)

U.S. pending home sales rose 1.3% WoW to their highest level in six weeks – Lower mortgage rates briefly boosted buyer demand before rates rebounded to 6.68% (Redfin)

U.S. 30-year mortgage rates rose 6 bps to 6.49% this week – Renewed Middle East conflict is keeping borrowing costs elevated and weighing on housing demand (Bloomberg)

Office tours by AI companies increased 85% YoY through May across the U.S. – Demand is expected to expand beyond New York and San Francisco into markets including Seattle, Chicago, and Washington (Bloomberg)

Seattle appears to be benefiting from its Amazon, Microsoft and cloud infrastructure base, while Washington, D.C. is likely seeing AI-related demand tied more to federal spending, defense contracts and policy proximity.

U.S. office vacancy declined 10 bps in Q2 as 53% of major markets posted lower vacancy rates – More than 90,000 apartments are in the office-to-residential conversion pipeline (Bisnow)

Micron increases its U.S. investment plan to more than $250B through 2035 – The expansion is expected to create more than 90,000 jobs across New York, Idaho, and Virginia (Reuters)

U.S. back-to-school spending is projected to decline 6% in 2026 amid weaker consumer sentiment – Average spending per K-12 student is expected to fall to $557 from $570 last year (Reuters)

BlackRock expects AI infrastructure spending to remain strong for the next two to three years – U.S. tech companies are projected to spend more than $700B on AI infrastructure in 2026 (Bloomberg)

AI-driven data center demand is straining U.S. transformer and grid equipment supplies – Data centers could account for 40% of the electrical equipment market by 2030 (Reuters)

This news connects well with JLL’s mid-year construction forecast, which warned that data-center-adjacent demand is straining both equipment supply chains and labor markets as power infrastructure competes for the same electricians, HVAC contractors, mechanical trades and equipment operators needed across large projects.

More U.S. states are implementing special electricity rates for data centers to protect consumers – Utilities are requiring large data centers to fund the grid upgrades needed to serve their power demand (Bisnow)

Arizona freezes data center tax breaks - State lawmakers pause incentives for new projects amid concerns over power and water use (CoStar)

Energy Storage Solutions withdraws its proposed $19.2B data center campus in Edgecombe County, North Carolina – County officials are considering a 24-month pause on new data center development (Bisnow)

Mavik Capital seeks $1B for a new distressed commercial real estate fund – The strategy targets recapitalizations, restructurings, and distressed real estate assets amid elevated borrowing costs (Bloomberg)