The Market in SIMPLE English

Eagles,

Just out this morning - Housing Starts and Permits.

As we have covered these metrics in the past, "Housing Starts" is when a builder breaks ground on a new residential unit and "Housing Permits" is when a builder applies for to the building office to build a home. Typically a Building Permit is applied for a month to six months in front of the actual start of construction.

This morning, "Housing Starts" was UP 3.6% over last month, now tracking at 582,000 annual units. "Building Permits" was UP 8.7% now tracking at 563,000 annual units.

We are still way below our basic housing needs in our nation, remember over the past 40 years, our household formations has tracked an average 1.25 million per year, and in 2007, this number was 1.6 million.

The housing numbers does show further recovery in our economy, but we still have a way to go to be "normal" again.

Other morning news - Bank of America, Citibank and GE were all out with their financial numbers. SUPRISE to the investor community, these companies were expected to continue with losses, but instead - PROFITS!

Another sign of economic recovery!

With this being said - the 10 year bond yield is heading UP. After all, better economy, higher interest rates. Look for your morning mortgage rates to be up some.

As I keep saying - the second half of 2009 will continue to show improvement in our industry.

Thanks,

Chuck

Eagles,

The good economic news continues to flow this morning!!

Just released are two additional reports - Philly Fed Outlook and Leading Economic Indicators

The Philly Fed Outlook release this morning shows the business activity business index rose sharply in June to a reading of -2.2. In May, this index showed a reading of -22.6. This is the highest reading on this index since September 2008.

The economist estimate for this index was for a reading of -17.

The manufacturing survey also showed the outlook for business conditions at its highest level since September 2003.

The Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) is a gauge for our economy six to nine months down the road. The LEI rose to 1.2 percent increase in May on the heals of a 1.1 percent increase for April. The May increase is the largest increase since March 2004. Economist were expecting a 0.9 percent increase.

As reported on CNBC this morning, Ken Goldstein, a Conference Board economist said "The recession is losing steam, confidence is rebuilding and financial market volatility is abating".

Please let me know what questions or comments you have.

Thanks,

Chuck