Rover’s Weekly Market Brief — 12/29/2017

Economy

Standard & Poor’s CoreLogic Case-Schiller national home price index found home prices in October rose +6.2% year over year compared to a +6.1% year over year increase the previous month. The report’s 20-city composite rose +6.4% year over year vs +6.2% for the previous month. Of the cities included in the 20 city composite, Seattle (+12.7%), Las Vegas (+10.2%), and San Diego (+8.1%) had the highest yearly price increases. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) noted minor gains in pending home sales for November, but cited +5.8% sales price increases, which were double wage growth, along with limited supplies as factors holding down residential sales.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index ^[6] fell to 122.1 in December from November’s 17-year high of 128.6. Confidence in the economy increased in that more consumers considered present day business conditions to be “good” (35.2%, +0.2%) with fewer considering them bad (12.3%, -0.2%) and the number of consumers who felt that jobs were “hard to get” fell to a 16-year low of 15.2% (-1.6%). However, confidence decreased with fewer consumers believing jobs were “plentiful” (35.7%, -1.8%), fewer believing there would be more jobs in the months ahead (18.4%, -2.9%), fewer believing business conditions would improve (20.2%, -2.9%), and more believing business conditions would get worse (9.2%, + 2.5%). Short term income prospects were mixed, with 22.3% (+2.0%) expecting improvements and 8.9% (+1.3%) expecting decreases.

The trade deficit in goods ^[7] increased +2.3% to $69.7 billion in November, with a +$3.8 billion increase in exports to $133.7 billion unable to keep up with a +$5.4 billion increase in imports to $203.4 billion. Exports increased primarily for capital goods (+$2400 million, +5.6%), automotive vehicles (+$949 million, +7.5%), and consumer goods (+$654 million, +4.0%), and imports increased for industrial supplies (including petroleum products) (+$2010 million, +4.7%), capital goods (+$1426 million, +2.6%), and consumer goods (+$2103 million, +4.2%). Wholesale inventories were up +0.7% in November, with a +0.2% (+$929 million) increase for durable goods and a +1.4% (+$3295 million) increase for nondurable goods, while retail inventories were relatively unchanged for the month, with a -$55 million (0%) drop in automobile inventories and a +$635 million (+0.2%) increase in all other retail products.

Upcoming Economic Reports:

Friday January 5 – Employment Situation

Friday January 5 – International Trade

Earnings Calendar:

 

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Disco (DSCSY) [8]	United Internet (UDIRF) [9]	Landec (LNDC) [10]	Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) [11]	Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) [12]
Konica Minolta (KNCAY) [13]	Adecco Group (AHEXY) [14]	National American (NAUH) [15]	Monsanto (MON) [16]	Greenbrier Companies (GBX) [17]