Housing Prices
Everything went sideways today, except the Dollar and Gold. It definitely looks like stocks have topped out, but time will tell.
The Dollar strengthened somewhat, and gold fell significantly. Is this what we can expect in a down stock market?
In the news today…..
Consumer Confidence – fell in July. While this is a flakey statistic, as it is wholly subjective, it does have some significance, and Wall St listens as this is one of the reasons stocks fell today. If this is a true forecaster, then consumer spending should continue to be weak, and perhaps even weaken further, and consumer spending is 2/3 of the total economy. People are still worried about being able to keep their jobs.
Housing Prices – rose 0.5% in May. This was the first increase since 2006. While house prices is the most important statistic to be watching, this is only one month’s evidence; so I continue to hold my opinion until there are 3 consecutive months of increases. I personally believe that house prices will be lower at the end of the year than they are right now.
Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 9097 (down 12 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 3.69% (down 0.03%)
Euro – $1.4171
Gold – $942 (down $15)
Oil – $67.23 (down $1.12)
Gasoline $1.91 (down $0.02)