Wednesday brought Building Permits and Housing Starts data. Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,223,000. This is 4.1 percent below the revised June rate of 1,275,000, but is 4.1 percent above the July 2016 rate of 1,175,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 811,000; this is unchanged from the revised June figure of 811,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 377,000 in July. Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,155,000.
Thursday was marked by Unemployment Claims, Philly Fed Manufacturing Index and Industrial Production data. In the week ending August 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 244,000. The 4-week moving average was 240,500, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 241,000.
Separate report on Philly Fed Manufacturing Index showed that survey’s broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, fell slightly from 19.5 in July to 18.9 in August. The index has been positive for 13 consecutive months (see Chart). Despite the fallback in the general activity index, the demand for manufactured goods, as measured by the survey’s current new orders index, showed notable improvement: The diffusion index increased from 2.1 to 20.4. Firms reported that shipments also continued to rise. The current shipments index increased 17 points to 29.4.
U.S. factory output fell in July, pulled down by tumbling auto production. The Federal Reserve says factory production dropped 0.1 percent last month. Overall industrial production — which adds output by mines and utilities — rose 0.2 percent. Mining output rose 0.5 percent, and utility production rose 1.6 percent. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast industrial production increasing 0.3 percent in July.
On Friday, Revised US Consumer Sentiment figures were released. Consumer sentiment climbed in August to a seven-month high as a measure of the outlook for the U.S. economy and personal finances registered the largest one-month advance since the end of 2011, according to University of Michigan survey data released Friday. Sentiment index rose to 97.6 (est. 94) from 93.4 in July.
This week markets will be looking at:
New Home Sales (Wednesday 16:00)
Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)
Existing Home Sales (Thursday 16:00)
Durable Goods Orders (Friday 14:30)
