Existing Home Sales down.

Existing Home Sales  (August 2014)

– Existing Home Sales (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) 5,050,000. Previous was 5,140,000

Month/month this is -1.8%. Year/year this is -5.3%.

The explanation is the same as usual:  fewer jobs paying enough to own a home, higher home prices, and tougher government mandated mortgage qualifying.

 

Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index  (August 2014)

– Level -0.21. Previous was +.26.

– 3 Month Moving Average  +0.07. Previous was +.20.

This is a weighted average of 85 existing monthly indicators of national economic activity.