Flatter Home Prices.
There is a lot happening this week: FOMC meeting starts today, 2ndQ2014 GDP tomorrow, BLS Employment Situation Report Friday.
ICSC-Goldman Store Sales (week ended 7/26/2014)
– Store Sales week/week +0.2%. Previous was -0.4%
– Store Sales year/year +4.6%. Previous was +2.8%.
Redbook Store Sales (week ended 7/26/2014)
– Store Sales year/year +3.0%. Previous was +3.7%
S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index (May 2014)
– 20-city, seasonally adjusted month/month -0.3 %. Previous was +0.1%
– 20-city, not seasonally adjusted month/month +1.1 %. Previous was +1.1%
– 20-city, not seasonally adjusted year/year +9.3%. Previous was +10.8%.
For me, this is a move in the right direction. Rapidly increasing home prices make housing unaffordable and reduce discretionary spending.
Conference Board Consumer Confidence (July 2014)
– Consumer Confidence 90.0. Previous was 86.4.
This is strong and is a leading indicator of consumer spending in the next 90 days.