Homebuilder Confidence Hits All-Time High

The Federal Reserve will wrap up its meeting today. Don’t expect much news, but the policy statement will be closely read for clues.

This morning, we learned that retail sales rose by 0.6% in August. In the last year, retail sales are up 2.6%.

Excluding gasoline, retail sales were up 0.6% last month. The figures for June and July were revised lower.

Core retail sales, which correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, fell 0.1% last month after a downwardly revised 0.9% increase in July, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday.

This category, which excludes automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, was previously reported to have advanced 1.4% in July. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core retail sales rising 0.5% in August.

In other news, homebuilder confidence rose to an all-time high.

U.S. single-family homebuilder confidence increased to a record high in September as historically low mortgage rates continue to boost the housing market despite the COVID-19 recession, which has left tens of millions of Americans unemployed.
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose five points to an all-time high of 83 this month, data showed on Wednesday. A reading above 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

Posted by on September 16th, 2020 at 10:48 am


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