| Consensus | Actual | Positive, Negative
Neutral
| Comments |
Monday 7/27/2009 | | | | |
New Home Sales
| 352,000 | 384,000 | (+) | The 11% increase month over month is yet another sign that the housing market is stabilizing, though at much lower levels than what had been the norm. |
Tuesday 7/28/2009 | | | | |
July Consumer Confidence | 48.7 | 46.6 | (-) | July marks the second month in a row that this barometer of consumer expectations falls. While the macro economy appears to be stabilizing the consumer is still unconvinced. |
May S&P/Schiller Home Price Index | -17.8% | -17.1% | Neutral | Nice to see a moderation in the decline of home prices, but until the excess inventory is worked out and mortgage credit stops deteriorating, it is hard to see housing rebounding. |
Wednesday 7/29/2009 | | | | |
Durable Orders | -0.5% | -2.5% | (-) | The decrease in durable orders was considerable, though most of it was in the more volatile transportation category which includes large ticket items such as planes. |
Durable Orders ex Transportation | 0.0% | 1.1% | (-) | While seemingly good, most of the increase was due to defense expenditures. Without it, durable goods orders would have dropped 0.7% |
Fed Beige Book | |
| | The Fed sees the economy as being on the mend, and recovering slowly though unemployment will continue being a problem for the foreseable future. |
Crude Inventories | | 5.15M | | |
Thursday 7/30/2009 | | | | |
Initial Unemployment Claims | 585,000 | 584,000 | Neutral | Weekly claims increased, but continuing claims decreased, perhaps signaling that chronic unemployment is easing a bit. |
Friday 7/31/2009 | | | | |
| 2Q09 GDP | -1.5% | -1.0% | (+) | GDP contracted at a smaller than expected pace, though first quarter revisions showed a deeper recession than previously thought. Government spending accounted for most of the outperformance against expectations. |
| Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) | 2.4% | -1.2% | (-) | The consumer is the engine of the the US economy and the contraction in spending shows the deterioration in consumer economics. |
| Chicago PMI | 42.0 | 43.4 | (+) | Still signaling contraction, but improving. |
Employment Cost Index | 0.3% | 0.4% | Neutral | The weak figure is not surprising given increasing unemployment and a difficult consumer environment. |