Economic Reports 06/30/09

Existing Home Sales May

Good news… existing home sales up +2.9% with supply falling to 9.6 vs 10.1 months.

Bad news… sales of existing homes are off 3.6% from May 2008 with 33% of all sales being distressed.

Worse news… The median price of an existing home is down 16.8% from a year earlier.

NAR paid liar, er chief economist Lawrence Yun: “the increase in sales is less than expected because poor appraisals are stalling transactions.”

Apparently, Mr. Yun is un-familiar with the concept of a deflating bubble which was caused by widespread greed and appraisal fraud.

New Home Sales May

Good news?? New home sales slipped 0.6%, which was the 2nd contraction in the past three months.

Bad news… the median sales price of a new home fell 3.4%

Worse news… sales of new homes are nearly 33.0% lower than in May 2008.

Durable Goods Orders May

Good news… Orders +1.8%; ex transport +1.1%

Better news… Nondefense capital goods orders +10%; ex aircraft increased at the fastest rate since September 2004, surging 4.8%.

Bad news… Yoy new orders for durable goods were down 23.3%, which was the 6th consecutive yoy reduction of more than 20.0%.

Worse news… Ex transportation, new orders for all other durables dipped 22.4% from May 2008.

Personal Income & Spending May

Good news… income +1.4%; Yoy +0.3%.

However, The advance in personal income was led by one-time payments under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Bad news… spending +0.3% vis a vis higher gasoline costs witnessed by Core PCE Yoy +1.8%

Worse news… spending Yoy -1.8% as wages and salaries or real take home pay slipped -0.1%

GDP Q1:09 Final

Good news?? BEA said that Q1 2009 real (inflation adjusted) gross domestic product tumbled at a 5.5% annualized rate. Less than the 5.7% anticipated.

Corporate profits are -21.8 % on a year-on-year basis, compared to down 36.3% in Q4.

Bad news… the reduction reflected an upturn in PCE and a larger decrease in imports.

Worse news… the higher prices & lower consumption were partly offset by...

larger decreases in private inventory investment and in nonresidential structures. Can you say destocking and a pull back in commercial structures?

Even worse news… the situation is worsening… Yoy growth for real GDP contracted by 2.5%, after falling 0.8% in Q4.

Initial Jobless Claims 06/20

+15K at 627K; 4 week MA +500 at 617.25. Continuing claims +29K at 6.738M; 4 week MA 3.25K at 6.759M. States with >+1K claims shows the carnage.

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