This is the big week of data releases. Important indicators such as Personal Income Outlays, Case Shiller Index, Purchasing Managers Index and the ISM Manufacturing Index are scheduled for release.
Personal Income increased 0.3% ($47.3 Billion) with respect to July 2014 and Personal Disposable income increased by 0.3% with respect to July 2014 ($35.2 Billion). The increase was fuelled by Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) increasing by 0.5% ($57.9 Billion) with respect to July 2014.
The Pending Home Sales Indicator (lead indicator of housing activity based on signed real estate contracts for existing single-family homes, condos and co-ops) on the other hand declined by 1% to 104.7 compared to July 2014. The decline was partially triggered by the slowdown of distressed property sales which recorded a decline in share from 16% to 12%. The Case Shiller Housing Price Index indicated a decline in house prices with 19 of the 20 cities included in the indicator recording a slowdown in return.
Existing homes accounting for ~90% of transactions in the housing market and the decline in both the indices might be indicative of a stabilizing housing market. New home sales however, reached the highest levels since mid-2008.
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index despite recording a decline of 3.8 points fuelled by decrease in production and new orders against August remains robust at 60.5.
With the FED already signalling that sustainable signs of recovery will be followed by interest rate hikes, all eyes are on the employment to be released on Friday, October 3rd. The trend so far this year has been that of a modest but steady decline.
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The image has been sourced from the press release made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
For a detailed list of releases click here.
Overall the data so far points towards a trajectory of self-sustaining recovery. The final verdict will be out at the end of the week with the unemployment figures coming in.
So what are your thoughts?
The content for the blog has been sourced using the following:
Bureau of Economic Analysis , Pending Home Sales Fall in August, Institute for Supply Management
