Happy Halloween and The Market Update October 31

 

Thoughts to Ponder . . .

• Taking a shower is awesome, it makes you feel nice and clean, makes you sound like a great singer, and helps you make all of life’s decisions.
• Did you ever notice, whenever you need your keys the most, that’s when they’re the hardest to find?
• Square box, round pizza, triangle slices, now that’s confusing.
• A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
• It’s really complicated to make something simple, but very simple to make something complicated.

 

And Now on to The Market Update . . .

 Throughout the week the stock market has remained within a narrow trading range of 100 points up or down.

• The flood of housing reports this week did little to impact the indices.
• It appears that investors are going to wait on the decision next week of the Fed on what will happen with interest rates.
• Many investors believe that this is going to be when the Fed acts to move rates higher.
• There are however others, a smaller segment, that believe that the increase will not happen until either December or January.

 

The Federal Housing and Finance Agency reported that home prices appear to be surging for single-family residences.

• For the month of August, prices jumped 0.7 percent, which was the high end of analyst’s expectations.
• This increase follows July’s jump of 0.5 percent.
• From the same time last year, the FHFA index is higher by 6.4 percent.
• The spread between prices this year and last year is also increasing, as the difference was 5.9 percent in July.

 

In contrast to the FHFA report, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index reported that prices only increased 0.2 percent in August.

• This index measures single-family home prices on re-sales in 20 major metropolitan cities.
• Prices compared to the same time last year remain higher by 5.1 percent.
• This is slightly less than where the year started at a 5.6 percent spread.

 

The West continues to lead the way in home price appreciation with an increase of 1.0 percent for San Francisco and an 0.8 percent rise in Seattle.

• If you compare home prices to a year ago, Portland Oregon is out in front with an increase of 11.8 percent, and once again Seattle at 11.4 percent.
• On the opposite end of the spectrum, New York and Cleveland showed only 1.8 percent and 2.9 percent respectively.

 

New homes sales jumped 3.1 percent for September.

• This proved to be a very solid gain after the prior two months were revised downward from 609,000 to 575,000 in August and 659,000 to 629,000 in July.

• The question that exists is given the previous two downward revisions, will September be revised downward as well?

 

 

New home prices are up for the month by 6.7 percent.

• Limited inventory continues to keep upward pressure on prices.
• Currently available inventory is rated at 4.8 months, which is a decline of 0.1 percent from the prior month.
• Sales compared to the same time last year are up 1.9 months.

 

Finally, pending home sales have increased.

• The index for the month of September was up 1.5 percent.
• This is a healthy reversal from the prior month’s 2.5 percent decline.

 

This week’s potential market moving reports are:

• Monday October 31^st – Personal Income and Outlays
• Tuesday November 1^st – ISM Manufacturing Index
• Wednesday November 2^nd – MBA Applications, ADP Employment Report, FOMC Announcement
• Thursday November 3^rd – First Time Jobless Claims & Factory Orders
• Friday November 4^th – National Employment Report

 

Joke of the Week!

I visited a real graveyard this Halloween …

I logged back in to Google+.