Karen Moskow

Pending sales of existing homes in the U.S.

continued to slide last month as buyers remain unmotivated by lower mortgage rates and slower price increases.

An index of contract signings fell a tenth of a percent last month following a revised 7.4 percent decline in December.

Meanwhile, the U.S.

trade deficit widened in December, capping a turbulent year of erratic tariff policy.

The goods and services trade gap expanded from the prior month to $70.3 billion.

The shortfall culminated in a full-year deficit of $901.5 billion, still one of the largest in data back to 1960.

Gold and pharmaceutical imports were particularly choppy as companies raced to beat higher duties.

Bloomberg's Michael McKee has more on what this could mean for tomorrow's GDP numbers.

And that's Bloomberg's Michael McKee.

We get those GDP numbers at 8.30 Wall Street time tomorrow.

Applications for U.S.

unemployment benefits fell by the most since November, and that added to some evidence of stabilization in the labor market.

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neal Kashkari said critical comments by National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett about a New York Fed study on tariffs undermines the central bank's independence.

Kashkari made the comments at an event in North Dakota.

Hassett said the study, which showed U.S.

companies bear most of the burden from President Trump's tariff hikes, is an embarrassment and that the researchers associated with it should be disciplined.

Now to the latest in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the brother of the U.K.

's King Charles, has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office after further details emerged of his relationship with the convicted sex offender.