Consumer Confidence up.

ICSC-Goldman Chain Store Sales (week ended 12/27/2014)

– Store Sales week/week  0.0%. Previous was +3.4%
– Store Sales year/year +2.2%. Previous was +3.1%

 
Redbook Chain Store Sales (week ended 12/27/2014)

– Store Sales year/year +5.4%. Previous was +5.3%.

 
S&P Case-Shiller HPI (October 2014)

– 20-city, seasonally adjusted month/month +0.8%. Previous was +0.2%
– 20-city, not seasonally adjusted month/month -0.1%. Previous was -0.1%
– 20-city, not seasonally adjusted year/year +4.5%. Previous was +4.5%

These are home prices in 20 selected metropolitan regions across the U.S.

 
Consumer Confidence (December 2014)

– Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence 92.6. Previous was 91.0.

This index is supposed to measure the consumer’s attitude about the state of the economy and, consequently, his predisposition to spend. My belief is that lower gas prices are a major factor.  There is no other item which we see posted in large numbers everywhere.