- Retail inventories for November, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $609.6 billion, up 1.0% from the previous month, and were up 4.1% from November 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Wholesale inventories for November, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $594.5 billion, up 0.9% from the previous month, and were up 1.2% from November 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- The international trade deficit in goods was $65.3 billion in November, up $3.4 billion from $61.9 in October, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Exports of goods for November were $121.7 billion, down $1.2 billion from October. Imports of goods were $187.0 billion in November, up $2.2 billion from the previous month.
- The Pending Home Sales Index, a leading indicator for the housing sector, decreased 2.5% in November, according to the National Association of Realtors. The index was down 0.4% from a year ago.
- The S & P Corelogic Case-Shiller National U.S. Home Price Indices posted an annual increase of 5.6% for the 12 months ending in October. The 10-city composite index increased 4.3% from October 2015 to October 2016, while and 20-city composite index increased 5.1%.
- The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey of December 29th showed average fixed mortgage rates continuing to rise. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.32% for the week ending December 29, up from last week when it averaged 4.30%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year fixed rate averaged 4.01%. 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.55%, up from last week when it averaged 3.52%. A year ago at this time, the 15-year fixed rate averaged 3.24%.
- Mortgage applications increased 2.5% from a week earlier, according to data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending December 16th.
- The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance decreased 10 thousand to 265 thousand in the week ending December 24. The 4-week moving average was 263 thousand, a decrease of 0.75 thousand from the previous week’s average.
- The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index continued to increase in December. The Index now stands at 113.7, up from 109.4 in November.
- The Chicago FED’s National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI) held steady at negative 0.77 in the week ending December 23. The credit and leverage sub-indexes decreased slightly from the previous week, while the risk and nonfinancial leverage sub-indexes were unchanged.
- The Chicago FED’s alternative index or the adjusted index (ANFCI) isolates a component of financial conditions uncorrelated with economic conditions to provide an update on financial conditions relative to current economic conditions. The ANFCI increased slightly from the previous week to negative 0.17. This indicates that financial conditions in the latest week were somewhat looser than what would be suggested by current economic conditions.
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