By CountingPips.com
U.S. home prices increased in May for the first time in almost three years according to the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller index released today. The house price report for the month of May showed that the index increased by 0.5 percent from April to May after a 0.6 percent decrease the month 
prior. This marks the first monthly increase in the index since July 2006. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index measures sale prices of existing single-family homes nationally and tracks 10-city and 20-city composite home price measurements.
On an annual basis, the 20-city composite index fell an annual rate of 17.1 percent while the 10-city composite index declined by 16.8 percent when compared to May of last year. May marked the fourth straight month that the index had improved after sixteen straight months of record declines.
The areas that had the best results on a monthly basis were Cleveland with a 4.1 percent gain, Dallas with a 1.9 percent rise and Boston with a 1.6 percent increase. Las Vegas had the worst month of the measured areas with a 2.6 percent decrease.
David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S & P, commented in the report saying, “Looking at the monthly data, 13 of the 20 metro areas reported positive returns; and the 10-City and 20-City Composites reported positive returns for the first time since the summer of 2006. To put it in perspective, these are the first time we have seen broad increases in home prices in 34 months. This could be an indication that home price declines are finally stabilizing.”
U.S. Consumer Confidence dips in July.
U.S. Consumer Confidence fell for the second month in a row according to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index released today. The consumer index, representing responses from 5,000 U.S. households, showed that consumer confidence decreased to a 46.6 score this month following a revised 49.3 score in June. The 2.7 point decrease was worse than market forecasts that were expecting consumer confidence to register a 49.0 score for the month.
The other two parts of the survey also saw decreases in July. The present situation section of the index fell to 23.4 from 25.0 in April while the expectations index declined from 65.5 in June to 62.0 this month.
Lynn Franco, the Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center commented in the report on the decreased readings, “Consumer confidence, which had rebounded strongly in late spring, has faded in the last two months. The decline in the Present Situation Index was caused primarily by a worsening job market, as the percent of consumers claiming jobs are hard to get rose sharply. The decline in the Expectations Index was more the result of an increase in the proportion of consumers expecting no change in business and labor market conditions, as opposed to an increase in the percent of consumers expecting conditions to deteriorate further. However, more consumers are pessimistic about their income expectations, which does not bode well for spending in the months ahead.”
Forex – U.S. dollar gains in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been trading higher in forex trading today against the major currencies. The dollar has gained versus the euro, British pound, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc while showing a loss versus the Japanese yen and New Zealand dollar.
The euro has fallen versus the USD as the EUR/USD trades at 1.4158 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 12:13pm EST after opening the day at 1.4242 according to currency data from Oanda. The British pound has also fallen as the GBP/USD has gone from its 1.6488 opening rate to trading later at 1.6419.
The dollar has declined against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has decreased from its 95.04 opening to trading at 94.20.
The dollar has gained against the Canadian dollar after opening at 1.0810 earlier today to trading at 1.0876 later. Meanwhile, the USD has also advanced against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF has gone from 1.0702 to trading at 1.0760.
The Australian dollar is trading almost unchanged versus the USD as the AUD/USD trades at 0.8251 after opening today at 0.8248 while the New Zealand dollar has increased just slightly versus the USD as the NZD/USD trades at 0.6576 after opening the day’s trading at 0.6564.
USD/CAD Chart – The US Dollar gains today versus the Canadian Dollar in Forex Trading and the USD/CAD trades right at the 100-hour moving average (red).
