Weekly Infobyte: With a Government Shutdown in Play, How Will Consumers Respond?
Government shutdowns and debates over fiscal deadlines correlate with sharp drops in consumer optimism.
Browsing: Economy
Consumer Sentiment at Lowest Level Since October
Consumer confidence fell to 87.2 in August, down 4.7 points from the previous month according to the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. Despite being at the lowest level in 11 months, August’s reading was still higher than in any month prior to May 2007. “A raft of recent events have been viewed as negative
Yellen Still Expects Rate Hike This Year
Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen said yesterday that she still expects economic conditions will warrant an interest rate hike “sometime later this year,” followed by a “a gradual pace” of increases.
GDP Revised Up to 3.9 Percent for Second Quarter
Real GDP for the second quarter grew at an annual rate of 3.9 percent according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s third estimate. This is an upward revision from the second estimate of 3.7 percent growth from the quarter, and well above the first quarter’s rate of 0.6 percent. The quarter’s acceleration in growth reflected
New Home Sales Rose 5.7 Percent in August
Sales of new single-family homes rose in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development. The August rate is 5.7 percent above the upwardly revised July rate of 522,000 and 21.6 percent above the year-ago rate of 454,000. New home sales
Durable Goods Orders Fell 2 Percent in August
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 Rose 0.6 Percent in July
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 Stall Unexpectedly
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 Rises, Savings Rate Falls
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,
No September Rate Increase
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