Housing: The Case-Shiller home price index came out today for June. June marked the third tick up in home prices in a row. These ticks, however, have been very small. As the chart below shows, the trend is not necessarily upward, but perhaps the downtrend is over?
Case-Shiller Housing Index (Six years)
In other homebuilding related news, some of the homebuilders were upgraded today and their stocks were generally strong. The homebuilding stock index I follow is up 20% since the Aug 9 low. This seems like a lot, but the index would need to be up 40% from that low just to get back to July levels.
Homebuilding Stocks (One Year)
Consumer Confidence: Consumer Confidence came in somewhat lower than expected. Some analysts said the low number may have been partially attributable to the fears earlier in the month regarding the debt ceiling.
Market: The market ended the day slightly up. When consumer confidence was released, the market fell sharply. Soon thereafter, stocks rebounded and closed near the highs of the day. Today’s close was the highest since midway through the eleven day debacle earlier this month.
Have a good day!
Brent
