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.