Marketwatch 666

The key economic reports released last week were the second estimate of 1st quarter GDP and the April report on Personal Income and Spending , both from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the April advance report on durable goods and the April report on new home sales , both from the Census bureau….This week also saw the release of the widely watched March Case-Shiller Home Price Index from S&P Case-Shiller , an index which is computed from the relative average of January, February & March home sales prices as compared to home sales prices of the same homes when they sold during previous 3 month periods; the Case Shiller index indicated that home prices nationally for those 3 months averaged 0.7% higher than prices for the same homes that sold during the same 3 month period a year earlier, down from the 0.8% year over year increase they reported for their February national index, covering home prices for December, January and February… In addition, the last two regional Fed...

The key economic releases from government agencies during the past week were the Advance Estimate of 1st quarter GDP and the concurrent March report on Personal Income and Spending , both from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; other widely watched releases included the March advance report on durable goods and the March report on New Residential Construction , both from the Census bureau… Major privately issued reports released during the week included the February Case-Shiller Home Price Index from S&P Case-Shiller, which indicated that their index of the relative average of December, January and February home prices was 0.7% higher than their index of average prices for the same homes that sold during the same 3 month period of a year earlier; the light vehicle sales report for April from Wards Automotive , which estimated that vehicles sold at a 16.4 million annual rate in April, up from the 16.3 million sales rate in March, but down from the 17.27 million annual sales rate re...

The key economic reports that were released last week were the "updated" estimate of 3rd quarter GDP and the combined October and November reports on Personal Income and Spending , both from the Bureau of Economic Analysis…since the latter includes two months of 4th quarter PCE data, it also accounts for nearly half of 4th quarter GDP…this week also saw the long delayed release of the October report on Construction Spending (pdf) from the Census Bureau…. 3rd Quarter GDP Growth Rate Revised Up to 4.4% in Updated Estimate Note: the initial estimate of 3rd quarter GDP, released on December 23rd, incorporated both what would normally be the advance and the second estimates, combined and late due to data losses during the shutdown…thus this updated estimate of 3rd quarter GDP replaces what would normally be the 3rd estimate, and hence is the last of the monthly 3rd quarter GDP updates…the 3rd estimate of 3rd quarter GDP was originally scheduled for release on December 23rd, ...

Shutdown delayed economic reports that were released this past week included the September report on Personal Income and Spending from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the September report on Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization from the Fed, and the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for September from the Census Bureau… The week’s major privately issued reports, released as scheduled , included the ADP Employment Report for November , wherein the payroll processor reported private US employers cut 32,000 jobs in November, the largest drop in more than 2 1/2 years; the light vehicle sales report for November from Wards Automotive , which estimated that such vehicles sold at a 15.6 million annual rate in November, up from the 15.3 million annual sales rate in October, but down from the 16.5 million annual rate in November a year ago, and both of the widely watched purchasing manager’s surveys from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM): th...