US Economic News - Home Prices decline in S&P/Case-Shiller Index in February. Consumer Confidence falls. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

April 29, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Economic News - Home Prices decline in S&P/Case-Shiller Index in February. Consumer Confidence falls.

Home prices in the U.S. continue to decline according to the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released today that showed home prices fell a record amount in February compared to last year. The S & P’s/Case-Shiller Index measures sales prices of existing single-family homes nationally and tracks 10-city and 20-city composite home price measurements. The report showed that the 10-city composite index dropped a record 13.6 percent in February while the 20-city composite fell 12.7 percent when each compared to last year. Las Vegas and Miami, for the second consecutive month, showed the biggest declines in home prices nationally as they registered declines of 22.8 percent nad 21.7 percent, respectively. Charlotte continued to be the only housing market in recent months of the 20 metropolitan areas tracked that showed a one year positive price growth with home prices increasing by 1.5 percent.

Consumer Confidence drops in April.

Consumer confidence declined to a five-year low according to a report released today by the Conference Board, which produces the Consumer Confidence Index. In a survey of 5,000 households, the index showed that consumer confidence declined about 3.6 points from 65.9 in March to currently standing at 62.3 in April. The Present Situation index dropped from 90.6 in March to 80.7 in April while the Expectations index edged up a bit from 49.4 in March to 50.1 in April. The confidence index is its lowest point since March of 2003 and according to the survey, consumers saw a more negative outlook for April in the present-day conditions, short-term expectations and the job market than the March survey results. The survey also registered lower scores this month in business conditions as more consumers rated business conditions as bad and the outlook for business conditions as worse for 6 months from now.

The U.S. dollar has been steady in the forex market trading today despite the negative economic news. All eyes are on the releases later this week of the U.S. Fed's interest rate decision and the Nonfarm payroll report. Most economic forecasts expect the Fed to reduce the interest rate from its current 2.25 percent to 2.00 percent. The rate decision will be announced on Wednesday at 2:15 pm EST(18:15 GMT). Friday's Nonfarm payroll report, to be announced at 8:20 am EST(12:30 GMT), is expected to show a loss of 78,000 jobs in April after a loss of 80,000 jobs in March.

Tags: consumer confidence, case/shiller, home prices, house value, business conditions

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