United States : household morale improves, home sales fall

Statistics mixed on Wednesday for the U.S. economy. Both up but a little disappointing on the front of the consumer, clearly wrong on the housing market. Sales of new homes have fallen into effect in November, falling to their lowest level since April. Annual rate, only 355,000 transactions were conducted, 11.3% fewer than in October.

Markets believed instead that the situation on the housing market would result in an increase in sales to the image of resales of homes that had clearly exceeded expectations on Tuesday. The economists were betting on and 440,000 transactions. This figure is undermining the idea that depressed housing market, which lasts for three years, is nearing completion.

On the other hand, consumer confidence, consumer spending and incomes of households that have emerged in below expectations. As with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) U.S., three indicators have indeed increased, confirming that the recovery of the U.S. economy begins well, but less than was presaged by economists.

The index of consumer confidence from the University of Michigan for the month of December has been revised downwards in the final estimate, at 72.5 against 73.4 initially announced. This is slightly lower than expectations of economists who had forecast a confirmation of the first estimate. However, household morale has significantly improved compared to November (the Michigan index was then revealed to 67.4), a positive sign for the U.S. economy depends largely on consumption.

Consumer spending has thus registered their second consecutive month of increase, rising by 0.5% in November. The consensus of the market stood at 0.6%. This performance is particularly disappointing that the increase in consumption in October was revised down to 0.6% against 0.7% originally announced. Adjusted for inflation, consumer spending posted a 0.2% gain in November.