Key Economic Indicators – December 30, 2019

  • New orders for manufactured durable goods in November decreased 2.0%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, following a 0.2% October increase.  Excluding transportation, new orders were virtually unchanged.  Excluding defense, new orders increased 0.8%.  Shipments of manufactured durable goods in November increased 0.1%, the same increase as in the previous month
  • Sales of new single‐family houses in November 2019 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 719,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  This is 1.3% above October and is 16.9%above the November 2018 estimate. The median sales price of new houses sold in November 2019 was $330,800.The seasonally‐adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of November was 323,000.  This represents a supply of 5.4 months at the current sales rate.
  • The results of Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey of December 26th showed little change in mortgage rates. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 374% for the week ending December 26, little changed from last week when it averaged 4.62%. A year ago at this time the 30-year fixed rate averaged 4.55%.15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.19%, unchanged from last week. A year ago at this time the 15-year fixed rate averaged 4.01%.
  • Mortgage applications decreased 5.3% from a week earlier, according to data from Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Applications Survey for the week ending December 20th.
  • The advance figure for initial claims for unemployment insurance was 222 thousand in the week ending December 21, a decrease of 13 thousand from the previous week. The 4-week moving average was 228 thousand, an increase of 2.25 thousand from the previous week’s average.

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