More Signs of Life for the U.S. Economy

March 01, 2013

In spite of the most recent bad macroeconomic news coming out of Europe and Italy (to say nothing of the sequester here in the U.S.), we continue to see reasons for optimism in the U.S. economy. This week’s chart of the week unveils the latest home prices and consumer confidence increases reported earlier this week. In looking at the S&P/Case-Shiller index, the leading measure of U.S. housing prices, we see that prices were up 0.9% in December and 6.8% for the year compared to analyst expectations of 6.6%. In addition, January new home purchases skyrocketed by 15.6% from December’s reading. Collectively, the recent increases in the Case-Shiller Index, new home purchases, and consumer confidence are indicative of signs of life in the U.S. economy and may suggest further appreciation in the housing market.