New orders for manufactured durable goods decreased 2.0 percent to $236.3 billion in August, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The August decrease followed a 1.9 percent July increase. The majority of the decline can be attributed to a 5.8 percent drop in new orders for transportation equipment. Excluding transportation, new orders were virtually unchanged
House prices in the U.S. rose 0.6 percent in July on a seasonally adjusted basis according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) monthly House Price Index (HPI), up from a 0.2 percent monthly gain in June. The FHFA HPI is calculated using home sales information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by Fannie Mae
Existing home sales fell 4.8 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.31 million, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), from a downwardly revised 5.58 million in July. August’s decline followed three consecutive months of gains. Despite the monthly decline, existing home sales have risen year-over-year for the last 11
Household net worth increased $694.8 billion during the second quarter of 2015 to $85.7 trillion, a 0.8 percent increase from the first quarter, and a 4.6 percent increase from a year ago. Households’ holdings of nonfinancial assets increased during the second quarter, growing 1.9 percent. The majority of this increase came from real estate holdings,
The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee elected not to raise the federal funds rate in September. In a statement released post-meeting, the Fed once again stated that the U.S. economy showed signs of moderate expansion and labor market improvement. However inflation has continued to run below long-run objectives – in some part due to declines
Housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.126 million, 3.0 percent below the revised July estimate of 1.161 million, but 16.6 percent higher than the August 2014 rate. Housing activity fell in three of the four regions, with starts falling 33.7 percent in the Northeast, 9.8 percent in the Midwest, and 1.1
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) reached a level of 62 in September, the highest reading since October 2005. Two of the three index components posted gains on the month. Current sales conditions rose 1 point to 67, and the index measuring buyer traffic rose to 47, up 2 points
The Consumer Price Index decreased 0.1 percent in August. The decline was largely due to a sharp decline in the gasoline index. The index rose 0.2 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index declined 2.0 percent in August after posting gains for three consecutive months. Both the fuel oil and gasoline indices declined
There were $447.7 billion of retail and food services sales in August (after adjustment for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences but not for price changes), an increase of 0.2 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Retail sales increased 2.2 percent from August 2014. Core retail sales – excluding automobiles and parts –
Industrial production decreased 0.4 percent in August, after increasing 0.9 percent in July. Total industrial production is at 107.1 percent of its 2012 level and 0.9 percent above its year-earlier level. Manufacturing output fell 0.5 percent in August primarily due to a large drop in motor vehicle parts. Mining, fell 0.6 percent on the month,