Marketwatch 666

There were just two widely watched reports released during the past week, the January report on New Residential Construction from the Census Bureau and the Existing Home Sales Report for January from the National Association of Realtors (NAR)…at the same time, the week did see the release of the first two regional Fed manufacturing surveys for February: 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 rose from –12.6 in January to +5.7 in February, meaning that a plurality of Second District manufacturers are now seeing improvement in various facets of their businesses, after widespread deterioration was reported in January… meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey , covering most of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware, reported its broadest diffusion index of manufacturing conditions fell fr...

Major reports released this week included the January Consumer Price Index , the January Producer Price Index and the January Import-Export Price Index , all from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Retail Sales Report for January and the Business Sales and Inventories Report for December from the Census Bureau, and the January report on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization from the Fed… Consumer Prices Rose 0.5% in January on Higher Prices for Fuel, Food, and Rent The consumer price index was 0.5% higher in January, as higher prices for groceries, rent, home, health and vehicle insurance, used vehicles, fuel, gas utility service, airline fares, lodging, hospital services, prescription drugs, internet and phone service, and recreational services were slightly offset by lower prices for clothing, appliances, TVs, and smartphones….the Consumer Price Index Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the weighted average of seasonally adjusted prices for c...

Major economic releases from last week included the Employment Situation Summary for January and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report for December, both from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and four December reports that included metrics that were only estimated in last week’s 4th quarter GDP release: the Commerce Department’s report on our International Trade for December ; the December report on Construction Spending , the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for December , and the December report on Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories , with all of those from the Census Bureau….in addition, late Friday the Fed released the Consumer Credit Report for December , which showed that overall consumer credit, a measure of non-real estate personal debt, increased by a seasonally adjusted $40.8 billion, or at a 9.6% annual rate, as non-revolving credit grew at a 5.8% rate to $3,763.4 billion in November, while revolving credit outstanding ...

This week’s key reports were the advance estimate of 4th quarter GDP and the December report on Personal Income and Spending , both from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; other widely watched reports included the advance report on durable goods for December and the December report on new home sales , both from the Census bureau, and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index for November from S&P Case-Shiller, which indicated that their national home price index for September, October and November averaged 3.8% higher than it was for prices of the same homes that sold during the same 3 month period a year earlier, which was the same as the 3.8% year over year index increase indicated by their October report, which indexed home sales prices over August, September and October against those of the same three months of a year ago…. This week also saw the release of the Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary for December from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which breaks down...