Bill Losey’s Weekly Economic Update for Nov. 29th, 2010

CONSUMERS SPEND, BUT FED REVISES ITS FORECAST
The latest Commerce Department data shows consumer spending at +0.4% for October and +2.8% for 3Q 2010. Personal incomes rose by 0.5% last month, and the federal government revised its 3Q economic growth estimate north to +2.5%. Still, the FOMC minutes from November 3 weren’t encouraging: the Federal Reserve thinks unemployment could stay above 9% in 2011, and it feels inflation could remain below 2% until 2013. The Fed’s GDP forecast for 2010 was revised down to the range of 2.4-2.5%, which is hardly what is needed to reduce joblessness.

DEMAND LAGS IN HOUSING MARKET
Will that demand increase by next spring? Hopefully. Existing home sales were down 2.2% in October according to the National Association of Realtors. The Census Bureau said new home sales slipped by 8.1% last month, with the average price of a new home falling by a shocking 14.0%. Only 23,000 new homes were bought in the U.S. in October, and new home sales were down 28.5% in year-over-year terms.

CONSUMER SENTIMENT HITS A 5-MONTH PEAK
The final Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for November rose to 71.6, the best reading since 76.0 in June and above the consensus 69.5 forecast of economists polled by Reuters. The sub-indexes measuring consumer expectations and current economic conditions were also at highs unseen since June.

UNEXPECTED DROP IN DURABLE GOODS ORDERS
The Commerce Department reported a 3.3% decline in the category, on the heels of an upwardly revised 5.0% gain for September. The month-over-month drop in hard goods orders was the largest since January 2009.

NASDAQ ADVANCES DURING ABBREVIATED WEEK
The NASDAQ gained 0.65% across three-and-a-half trading days to settle at 2,534.56 at Friday’s closing bell. The Dow was down 1.00% for the week, closing Friday at 11,091.87; the S&P 500 lost 0.86% last week, settling at 1,189.40 Friday.