Today's report confirms that the single-family market has peaked this summer, and it's coming off gradually.
There's already been a considerable softening in housing demand which preceded the recent rise in mortgage rates. Which leads me to believe that the weakness at a minimum will continue, and may likely accelerate.
Consumers continue to persevere in a difficult environment in light of high oil prices,
This is a return to normalcy, and that is especially good after what seemed like a much more serious event for the economy just a month or two ago.
These areas are at an especially high risk of future price corrections,
It's still a welcome number. It showed sustained labor conditions outside of the areas impacted by the two hurricanes.
The credit markets have been very useful guides to industry prospects. Whatever reassuring signals they are sending shouldn't be ignored.
Taking it at face value, the hurricane played a big role in contributing to the weakness. Consumer spending was abysmal in October and November. It's an extremely weak report overall.
On the whole this will assuage some of the concern that's been bubbling up about inflation since the start of the year and should keep the Fed on its measured path for now.
This reflects the healthy expansion we saw in April, and it's consistent with what we're hearing from businesses. Not only was there improvement in orders, but there appears to be momentum in business sentiment across the board.
