Category Archives: Consumers

Boom Times In 2017 For Consumers?

Popular Economics Weekly Here are more signs that economic growth will increase in 2017. There’s a large increase in revolving credit, one of the largest of the cycle, reports the Federal Reserve, a sign that retail sales are booming (with … Continue reading

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Why The Years of Slow Growth?

Popular Economics Weekly Pundits have decried it. Donald Trump has criticized the ‘lousy’ U.S. economy in many of his Tweets, and economists have lamented the 2.4 percent GDP growth rate since 2000, at the time of the dot-com bubble bust. … Continue reading

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Case-Shiller Home Prices At New Highs

Financial FAQs The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 5.6 percent annual gain in October, up from 5.4 percent last month. The 10-City Composite posted a 4.3 percent annual … Continue reading

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New-Home Sales, Confidence Also At New Highs

The Mortgage Corner The Commerce Department on Friday said new home sales increased 5.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 units last month. That was the second highest pace since 2007, said the NAHB. Economists had forecast … Continue reading

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New-Home Sales, Confidence Also At New Highs

The Mortgage Corner Just as existing-home sales are at their cyclical highs, the Commerce Department on Friday said new home sales increased 5.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000 units last month. That was the second highest … Continue reading

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Housing Construction, Sales Strong, Interest Rates Still Ultra-Low

The Mortgage Corner Housing starts are being hit by huge swings. November starts fell 18.7 percent in November to a much lower-than-expected 1.090 million annualized rate following an upward revised gain of 27.4 percent to 1.340 million in October, says … Continue reading

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Janet Yellen and The Fed’s Rate Hike(s)

The Mortgage Corner The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised a key U.S. interest rate for the first time in a year and signaled a more aggressive approach in 2017, when incoming president Donald Trump plans a so-called ‘full-throttle’ strategy to … Continue reading

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Why Are Consumers Happier?

Financial FAQs Why are consumers much happier during these holidays? The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for November jumped 6.6 points to a six-month high while the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index jumped 6.3 points to 107.1 for its … Continue reading

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4.6% Unemployment–178,000 Payroll Jobs in November

Popular Economics Weekly Nonfarm payrolls rose 178,000 in November to just beat out expectations with revisions no factor, says Econoday. A sharp downward revision to October, now at 142,000, was offset by a nearly as sharp upward revision to September, … Continue reading

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GDP Growth, Consumer Confidence Soar

Financial FAQs The economy grew at the fastest pace in over two years in the third quarter, as consumers, business investment and government increased spending. Gross domestic product expanded at a 3.2 percent annual rate in the Commerce Department’s second … Continue reading

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