Last Week in the News

Last Week in the News

Existing home sales fell 27.2% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.83 million units from a downwardly revised 5.26 million units in June. The inventory of unsold homes on the market increased 2.5% to 3.98 million, a 12.5-month supply at the current sales pace, up from an 8.9-month supply in June.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending August 20 increased 4.9%. Refinancing applications rose 5.7%. Purchase volume rose 0.6%. Refinancing made up 82% of total applications.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — rose 0.3% in July after decreasing a revised 0.1% in June. The increase was largely due to improved demand for commercial aircraft. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly decrease of 3.8%.

New home sales fell 12.4% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 276,000 units from a revised rate of 315,000 units in June. It was the lowest reading since recordkeeping began in 1963. Economists had expected a pace of 330,000 units.

In its second report, the Commerce Department announced that gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 1.6% in the second quarter of 2010, rather than the 2.4% increase initially reported.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 31,000 to 473,000 for the week ending August 21. Economists had projected claims would fall to 490,000. Continuing claims for the week ending August 14 fell by 62,000 to 4.46 million.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on the housing price index on August 31, construction spending on September 1 and pending home sales on September 2.

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