Tuesday brought CB Consumer Confidence figures. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in January, declined in February. Analysts were anticipating smaller decline to 99.7 The Index now stands at 96.4, down from 103.8 in January. The Present Situation Index decreased to 110.2 from 113.9, while the Expectations Index declined to 87.2 from 97.0 in January.
Wednesday's US session was marked by New Home Sales data. Sales of new single-family houses in January 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000, beating forecasts on a rate of 471,000. This is 0.2% below the revised December rate of 482,000, but is 5.3% above the January 2014 estimate of 457,000.
Focus of the US session on Thursday was on CPI, Durable Goods Orders and Unemployment Claims figures. The Consumer Price Index declined 0.7% in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, in line with market predictions. Over the last 12 months, the all items index decreased 0.1% before seasonal adjustment.The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2% in January,beating market forecasts on 0.1%.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in January increased $6.5 billion or 2.8% to $236.1 billion. Analysts were anticipating 1.7% increase. This increase, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, followed a 3.7% December decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.3%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.0%.
Separate report on Unemployment Claims showed that in the week ending February 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 313,000, an increase of 31,000 from the previous week's revised level. Smaller incline to 288,000 was expected. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 283,000 to 282,000. The 4-week moving average was 294,500, an increase of 11,500 from the previous week's revised average.
On Friday GDP, Chicago PMI and Pending Home Sales data was released. U.S. GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 5.0 percent. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 2.6%.
The Chicago Business Barometer plunged 13.6 points to 45.8 in February, missing expectations on a smaller decline to 59.4. This is the lowest level since July 2009 and the first time in contraction since April 2013.
Pending Home Sales climbed 1.7 percent to 104.2 in January from an upwardly revised 102.5 in December and is now 8.4 percent above January 2014 (96.1). However,incline by 2.5 percent was anticipated. This marks the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year gains with each month accelerating the previous month's gain.
This week markets will be looking at:
ISM Manufacturing PMI (Monday 16:00)
ADP Non-Farm Employment Change (Wednesday 14:15)
ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (Wednesday 16:00)
Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)
Trade Balance (Friday 14:30)
Non-Farm Employment Change (Friday 14:30)
