Last Week in the News



Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, fell 1.3% in July after a 2.4% increase in June. On a year-over-year basis, pending sales are up 14.4%.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index — on a non-seasonally adjusted basis — rose 1.1% in June after a 1% increase in May. On a year-over-year basis, prices fell 4.5% compared with June 2010.

The consumer confidence index fell to 44.5 in August from 59.5 in July. The index was benchmarked at 100 in 1985, a year chosen because it was neither a peak nor a trough in consumer confidence.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending August 26 fell 9.6%. Refinancing applications decreased 12.2%. Purchase volume rose 0.9%.

Factory orders rose 2.4% in July to a seasonally adjusted $453.2 billion, following a revised 0.4% decrease in June. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders rose 0.9% in July.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly composite index of manufacturing activity fell to 50.6 in August after a reading of 50.9 in July. A reading above 50 signals expansion. It was the 25th straight month of expansion.

Total construction spending fell 1.3% to $789.5 billion in July, following an upwardly revised 1.6% gain in June. Economists had anticipated an increase of 0.1% in July.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 to 409,000 for the week ending August 27. Continuing claims for the week ending August 20 fell by 18,000 to 3.7 million. The monthly unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1% in August.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on international trade on September 8 and wholesale trade on September 9.

Mario Grosser
Prospect Mortgage