Tag Archives: consumer confidence

Pending Home Sales, Consumer Confidence Looking Better

The Mortgage Corner Oh, the winter is freezing consumers, as I’ve said! It affected January existing-home sales, but the NAR’s January Pending Home Sales index rose sharply 1.7 percent. So pending sales of contracts signed may give a boost to … Continue reading

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Low Inflation Everywhere Is Shrinking Growth

Popular Economics Weekly Deflation is a rising risk for the U.S. economy based on import and export price data where contraction is at its most severe since the 2008-2009 recession, as well as for the rest of the world. U.S. … Continue reading

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Europe on Verge of Recession

Popular Economics Weekly Oil prices are plunging below $50 per barrel, and the European Central Bank is about to announce whether it will begin its own Quantitative Easing program, similar to the Fed’s purchase of government securities that is designed … Continue reading

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Consumer Confidence Soaring, Case-Shiller Home Prices Unchanged

Popular Economics Weekly Why are stock prices rallying?  Maybe it’s because though housing price increases have slowed, consumer confidence is soaring for the holidays.  The prospect for future job and income growth looks good, in other words Home prices contracted … Continue reading

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Pending Sales Up, Mortgage Delinquencies Down

The Mortgage Corner U.S. home buyers signed more contracts to buy existing homes in July, rebounding from a drop in June. This is in line with declining delinquency and foreclosure rates that portend a healthy real estate market for the … Continue reading

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Consumer Confidence Surging, Why Not Spending?

Popular Economics Weekly Consumer confidence is up led by strength in the current assessment, which points to gains for consumer readings in August. But why aren’t consumers spending more, if so? Auto sales are up, but retail sales overall are … Continue reading

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Consumer Confidence In A ‘Goldilocks’ Economy

Popular Economics Weekly Once upon a time, the U.S. was considered to have a “Goldilocks” economy that was neither too hot nor too cold; where inflation was moderate, yet there was full employment. This last happened in the late 1990s … Continue reading

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Economic Recovery Is For Real

Popular Economics Weekly We are already in July, and can now see that the US economic recovery is for real, in spite of the past winter. Even economic growth is picking up, so that second quarter Gross Domestic Product might … Continue reading

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New-Home Construction, Permits Soar

The Mortgage Corner Housing starts jumped in April and building permits hit their highest level in nearly six years, offering hope the weak housing market could be stabilizing, according to the US Census Bureau’s April report on housing starts.  This … Continue reading

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Rising Consumer Confidence To Boost Growth

Popular Economics Weekly Consumers seem to finally be consuming their normal share of economic growth—which is currently 68.2 percent of GDP, or overall economic activity. We know this because they are spending more, and their confidence numbers are returning to … Continue reading

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