ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2016
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The labor market had another solid week. Filings have been below 300,000 for 95 straight weeks, a streak last experienced in 1970. Weekly jobless claims declined by 10,000 to 265,000 in the week ended Dec. 24 from a six-month high in the prior period, a Labor Department reported.A reported increa...
12/29/2016
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As a quiet market opens following the long holiday weekend, crude oil unwrapped a win, climbing to a 17-month high. Oil prices are expected to rebound in 2017 following an agreement by OPEC nations and eleven other nations to reduce output and trim the glut. This month, a reduction in about 1.8 m...
12/27/2016
Cash sales for homes rose for the third straight month in September though below the 2015 levels, reports analytics firm CoreLogic. Cash sales made up 31.7% of total home sales in September, down 1.3% from last year, but up slightly from August's 31.1%. By comparison, back in January of 2011, cas...
12/22/2016
The National Association of REALTORS® reported on Wednesday that Existing Home Sales in November edged higher by 0.7% from October to an annual rate of 5.61 million units, a 9-year high. Potential borrowers locked in before the presidential election on November 8 to lock in low rates feeling that...
12/21/2016
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November Housing Starts fell 18.7% from October to an annual rate of 1.090 million units, well below the 1.225 million expected. October was revised slightly higher to 1.340 million from 1.323 million. Building Permits declined 4.7% from October to an annual rate of 1.201 million versus 1.236 mil...
12/16/2016
Home builder confidence surged in December after the election in early November. The National Association of Home Builders reported that its Housing Market Index hit 70 this month, above the 63 expected and up from 63 in November. It was the highest level since July 2005. “This notable rise in bu...
12/15/2016
Consumers pulled back on spending to begin the 2016 holiday shopping season in a month that featured the presidential election and Black Friday. The Commerce department reported that Retail Sales rose 0.1% last month, down from the 0.6% recorded in October, which was revised lower from 0.8%. Sale...
12/14/2016
CoreLogic, a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information, reported on Monday that U.S. homes with negative equity decreased more than 10% in the third quarter of 2016. Homeowner equity increased by 3.1% or $227 billion in the third quarter from the second quarter of 2016. The...
12/12/2016
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Consumers reacted positively to the Donald Trump's surprise presidential victory and expect the new administration's fiscal policies to have a positive effect on the economy. The preliminary early December Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 98.0 versus the 94.3 expected and up from the 93.8 recorde...
12/09/2016
Americans filing for first time unemployment benefits continue to hover near multi-decade lows and as the sector has improved dramatically since the end of the Great Recession back in mid-2009. The Labor Department reported that Weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell by 10,000 to 258,000 in the week ...
12/08/2016