November 2013

Durable Goods, Inventories and Q3 GDP

The Durable Goods, advance report shows new orders decreased by -2.0% for October 2013 after a 4.1% increase in September.   The decline was mainly aircraft as transportation durable goods new orders by themselves dropped -5.9%.  Without transportation orders, which aircraft is a large part, durable goods new orders fell by -0.1%.  We also estimate Q3 GDP will be revised upward to 3.2% on inventories.

 

Case-Shiller Home Prices Show 2006 Level Yearly Increases Again

The September 2013 S&P Case Shiller home price index shows a seasonally adjusted 13.3% price increase from a year ago for both the 20 metropolitan housing markets and the top 10 housing markets.  America is now only 20% away from the peak of the housing price bubble and the two indexes are comparable to May 2004 levels

Real Retail Sales Increased ~.75% in October

There were two somewhat important economic reports for October released last week, coincidentally both rescheduled for release at 8:30 AM on Wednesday, retail sales from the commerce department and the consumer price index from the bureau of labor statistics (BLS)..  Together they're often used by economists to generate a metric that goes by 'real retail sales', which is supposed to be something analogous to the real personal consumption expenditures metric of GDP, and which is said to be an indica

About Those Housing Building Permits

The headlines blare building permits are the highest in five years.  Housing building permits come from the Census issued Residential construction report and for October building permits increased 6.9%.  While that sounds great and good, it is not an indicator the residential real estate sector is red hot again as some in the press proclaim.

Pending Homes Sales Point to Party Over

The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales declined by -0.6% in October 2013.  This is the 5th month in a row where pending home sales have declined and is the lowest level for pending home sales since Decenber 2012.  September pending home sales dropped by -4.6%  Pending home sales have declined -1.6% from a year ago.

 

Obamacare Ain't Lookin' Too Caring

Are you confused about Obamacare?  Sick of listening to spin when your life is on the line?  We thought so.  It is still difficult to obtain a concise, clear picture on what is happening to America's health care.  We gather below a few critical snippets of information which point to more impending disaster for the individually insured.

 

October CPI Drops 0.1% on Gas, Lowest Annual Inflation Rate Since Great Recession

The monthly October Consumer Price Index declined by -0.1% on gas prices.  CPI measures inflation, or price increases and for the year has increased 1.0%.  This is the lowest annual inflation since the height of the Great Recession, October 2009.

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