Economic Reports 09/28/09

Retail Sales Aug

Excluding sales at auto dealerships, retail sales up 1.1%. On a year-over-year basis, total retail sales were down 5.3%.

For Hire Truck Tonnage Index Aug

+2.1% in August after also rising 2.1% in July. However, Yoy tonnage contracted 7.5%.

Initial Claims 09/19

-21K at 530K; 4 week MA -11K at 553.5K; Continuing claims -123K at 6.261M; 4 week MA -1.25K at 6.187M.

Existing Home Sales Aug

-2.7% at 5.1M ending a four month blip to the upside. SFR -2.8%; median price -4.5K at $177K.

Distressed sales make up 31% of all sales. Inventory down 10% at 3.622M; relative to sales 8.5 months; a 2.5 year low.

New Home Sales Aug

+0.7% at 429K; July revised down to 426K vs 433K. Price indications from the latest new and existing home sales reports show further deterioration.

The median price of a new home tumbled 9.5% to $195,200 for the lowest level since 2003.

New homes on the market fell 3% to 262K, making for 7.3 months of supply at the current sales rate.

Durable Goods Orders Aug

-2.4%; Yoy -20.2%; Ex transport Flat; Yoy -18.9%. Transportation -9.3%; nondefense aircraft fell 42.2%, defense aircraft declined 10.6%.

Nondefense capital goods orders (ex aircraft), which is a good proxy for capital expenditures, fell 0.4%.

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