Apr 28: Consumer Confidence Surges

The S&P/Case-Shiller 10-City Home Price Index decreased by 2.1% in February, following a  2.6% drop in January, a 2.3% decline in December and a 2.2% drop in November, and fell 18.8% over the year, less than the 19.4% record annual decline observed in January, which is the first time in 16 months the annual decline did not set an annual record for the 10-city composite and the 20-city composite, which fell by 18.6% over the year. In March, the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index declined by 2.2%, following a 2.8% reduction in January, 2.5% in December.  This is the 31st consecutive month residential real estate has fallen, starting from August 2006, with home price reductions ubiquitous geographically where all 20 MSAs observed monthly and annual residential value declines.  Cleveland was the only metro area having a record monthly decline, returning -5.0%.  In terms of annual declines, the three worst performing cities continue to be from the Sunbelt fared worse with Phoenix down 35.2%, Las Vegas declined 31.7% and San Francisco fell 31.0%. Dallas, Denver and Boston faired the best in terms of annual declines down 4.5%, 5.7% and 7.2%, respectively. Dallas also had the least severe monthly decline, by -0.3%.

The Consumer Confidence Index showed optimism, which now stands at 39.2 in April, following 26.9 in March, and its record low of 25 in February.  Consumers short term outlook improved and the employment situation became less pessimistic.  The Present Situation Index increased to 23.7 from 21.9 in March, and the Expectations Index rose to 49.5 from 30.2 in March. 

Upcoming Releases
GDP-Q1 Advance Estimate (04/29 at 8:30 AM EST)
FOMC Policy Statement (04/29 at 2:15 PM EST)
Initial Claims (04/30 at 8:30 AM EST)
Personal Spending (04/30 at 8:30 AM EST)
ISM Manufacturing Index (05/01 at 10:00 AM EST)