New home sales dropped by 14.5% in March and are now down over 13% year-over-year. All four regions are now negative on a year-over-year basis. Meanwhile, median price rose over 11% to a all-time new high of $290K as months’ supply spiked to its highest...
Existing home sales actually slightly beat consensus estimates for March (4.59 million vs 4.56 million), however, they still declined for 7th time in 8 months. The good news is the decline in March was minimal. Average and median home prices also both increased in March....
There are so many economic indicators, especially for the United States, that it can be tough to stay on top of all them. Fortunately, there are a few ”aggregate” indicators out there that provide a nice summary of many economic statistics....
While initial jobless claims were just a bit higher this week than last (304K vs 302K), the widely watched 4-week moving average slid down to 312K which is its lowest level since October 2007. Continuing claims fell to 6-year low as well....
US industrial production rose by 0.7% in March vs consensus expectations of a 0.4% gain in March. This is even more impressive as February monthly gain was revised up from 0.6% to 1.2%. The 3-month % change, annualized, is now at nearly 7%. This is...
The latest reading for the NAHB Housing Market Index came in slightly below consensus again (47 vs 49). The index was particularly weak looking at the traffic of prospective buyers. This component series remains subdued at 32, well below the highs made in September 2013...
The always volatile TIC data was released this morning and showed that foreigners bought the most long-term US securities in any month since August 2012. Private parties purchases were focused solely on treasury bonds and notes. They purchased over $75 billion in February which was...
Retail sales rebounded by 1.1% in March which slightly beat consensus (1%). February retail sales were also revised up from 0.3% month-over-month to 0.7% month-over-month. Retail sales and retail sales ex-autos both made all-time highs in March. Auto sales grew by over 3.1% for the...
As central bank policies in the U.S. and Europe appear to be headed in very different directions, bond markets have taken note. Not since June 2006 has the spread between 10-year government bonds in the U.S. and Germany been so extreme. While yields have fallen...
Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell to 300K which is the lowest level in 360 weeks (May 2007). The four-week moving average is very close to making a new 7-year low as well. Import prices rose by 0.6% month-over-month in March while export prices rose a...
Refi loans are accounting for about half of all mortgage applications which is the lowest amount since July 2009. On the surface this seems like a positive trend back to pre-2008 levels. However, the ABSOLUTE level of mortgage apps is currently only about half of...
The JOLTS report came out today and shows that there are more job openings now than at anytime since January 2008. This is slightly higher than what the consensus was predicting. The total number of people who quit their job ticked up slightly in February...
The headline nonfarm payroll number for March came in slightly below consensus at 192K (consensus was looking for 206K). Perhaps more importantly, however, the prior two months were both revised higher by a total of 37K jobs....
We had two major economic releases today that suggest that the first quarter GDP in the US may be lower than previously expected. First, the trade deficit unexpectedly widened to $42.3 billion in February from $39.3 billion in January. The consensus was for a slightly...
With a little trading left to go, the the 10-year treasury bond is about to set a 2 1/2 month high in terms of yield. The last time the 10-year closed above 2.80% was on January 22nd....
