Marketwatch 666

The only widely watched report released during the past week was the Existing Home Sales report for December from the National Association of Realtors (NAR)….in addition, this week also saw results from another regional Fed manufacturing survey for January: the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey for January , covering western Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wyoming and northern New Mexico, reported its broadest composite index remained at -5 in January, same as in December, but down from -4 in November, indicating that a small plurality that region’s manufacturers continued to see deteriorating business conditions in January… Existing Home Sales Rose 2.2% in December; 2024 Sales Lowest on Record The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that their seasonally adjusted tabulation of existing home sales rose by 2.2% from November to December , after rising by 4.8% in November, projecting that 4.24 million existing homes would sell over an entire year if th...

Major agency reports that were released ​last week included the December Consumer Price Index , the December Producer Price Index , and the December Import-Export Price Index , all from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Advance Retail Sales Report for December and the accompanying Business Sales and Inventories report for November from the Census Bureau, the December report on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization from the Fed, and the New Residential Construction report for December (pdf) from the Census Bureau… The week also saw the release of the first two regional Fed manufacturing surveys for January: the Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the New York Fed, which covers all of New York state, one county in Connecticut, Puerto Rico and northern New Jersey, reported their headline general business conditions index fell from +20.2 in November and from +2.1 in December to –12.6 in January, meaning that a significant plurality of Second District manufacturer...

Major economic reports released last week were the Employment Situation Summary for December and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for November, both from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the November report on our International Trade from agencies within the Commerce Dept, and the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for November and the November report on Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories , both from the Census Bureau….also last week, the Fed released the Consumer Credit Report for November , which showed that overall consumer credit, a measure of non-real estate debt, decreased by a seasonally adjusted $7.5 billion, or at a 1.8% annual rate, as non-revolving credit grew at a 2.0% rate to $3,743.1 billion in November, while revolving credit outstanding shrunk at a 12.0% rate to $1,359.3 billion…. Privately issued reports released last week included the ADP Employment Report for December , and the December Services Report On ...

With the government still on a holiday schedule up until New Year's, the only major agency report released the past week was the November report on Construction Spending from the Census Bureau, typically scheduled for the first of the month...this week also saw the results from last regional Fed manufacturing survey for December: the Dallas Fed Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey reported their general business activity composite index rose to +3.4, up from November’s –2.7 and its first positive reading since April 2022, meaning that a small plurality of Texas manufacturing executives saw improving business conditions for the first time in 32 months… Privately issued reports released this week included the light vehicle sales report for December from Wards Automotive , which estimated that vehicles sold at a 16.80 million annual rate in December, up from the 16.50 million million annual pace of vehicle sales reported for November, and up from the 15.83 million vehicle sales rate...