Construction Spending

January 2, 2025             Construction spending (the green bars above) was unchanged in November after having risen 0.5% in October.  Construction spending climbed sharply in the first four months of last year, but it has slowed...

Case Shiller Index of Home Prices

December 31, 2024 The seasonally adjusted Case Shiller Index of Home Prices in 20 cities rose 0.3% in October after having risen 0.2%  in September after rising 0.3% in August. It has risen 4.3% in the past year. Brian Luke, Head of Commodities, Real &P Digital...

Pending Home Sales

December 30, 2024 Pending home sales rose 2.2% in November to 79.0 after gaining 1.8% in October, 7.5% in September, and 0.6% in August.  This is the fourth consecutive increase in this series. The National Association of Realtors chief economist, Lawrence Yun said,...

New Home Sales

December 23, 2024 New home sales rebounded by 5.9% in November to 664 thousand after having plunged by 14.8% in October  However, the October drop was almost exclusively in the South and clearly the result of the combo of Hurricanes Milton and Helene.  Sales in the...

Consumer Confidence

December 23, 2024 . The Conference Board reported that consumer confidence fell 8.1 points in December to 104.7 after having risen by rose 3.2 points in November.. Chief Economist at the Conference Board, Dana Peterson, said  “The recent rebound in consumer confidence...

Durable Goods Orders

December 23, 2024 Durable goods orders fell 1.1% in November after having risen 0.8% in October.    Durable goods orders have declined 5.2% in the past year. Much of the change in durables is frequently in the transportation sector — airplanes, cars, and...