Housing starts increased 3.5% to a 560,000 annual pace in May and the previous two months were revised slightly higher. This is a rare item of good news amidst a flurry of sour economic reports in the last two months. The May total is almost at the 565,000 monthly average over the last year. The housing market remains stalled. The May gain is not a signal that sustained gains are immediately ahead.
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Headline: Up 11.1%, to 300,000 annualized Consensus: 280,000 Analysis: Last month, new home sales fell 16.9%, to 250,000 annualized. That number has been revised slightly higher, to 270,000. So March home sales are still a sharp imp... Read Post
The numbers: Personal income beats expectations with a 0.3% gain vs. 0.2% expected. Spending was up 0.4% vs. 0.5% expectations. Previous month was revised higher. Jobless claims of 420,000 is slightly better than expected, and exact... Read Post
In a small but still encouraging sign the economic recovery has picked up, the government on Thursday revised its estimate of third-quarter growth slightly upward to an annualized rate of 2.6%. The figure is up from the previous est... Read Post