Unemployment
Existing Home Sales
The weekly unemployment numbers came out today, with initial claims falling by 12,000 to 219,000, better than the consensus forecast of 230,000, while the less volatile 4 week moving average fell by 3,500 to 227,500, and continuing claims fell by 14,000 to 1.829 million.
Additionally, we have news regarding home market, with home sales fell 2.5% month over month and 4.2% year over year with median home prices rising 3.1% year over year.
I would note that a bit of that price increase is due to a significant decrease in the sales of less expensive homes over the past year.
When you take out the low end, the remaining sales look increasingly pricey.
This is not a surprise. First time and less expensive home buyers are much more sensitive to housing costs, of which interest rates are a major component.
I would note that this does work its way up the market over time, because there are fewer people trading up to bigger and better houses.
That is probably why the fed cut rates by 1/2% yesterday.
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