8/26/09

Good morning. Yesterday’s 2-yr auction did relatively well. Most believe that today’s 5-yr auction, and tomorrow’s 7-yr auction, will be a better thermometer of general demand for debt. But in addition to a decent auction we had the S&P Case-Shiller US Home Price Index. “ Fifteen out of twenty metropolitan areas posted price declines of more than 10% from a year earlier, and according to the index many areas are back to 2003 price levels. There were some areas that improved from the month prior: Cleveland (+4.2%) and San Francisco (+3.8%). For the last year, both Las Vegas and Phoenix were down over 31%. To balance that news out, Consumer Confidence saw its first gain in three months, coming in better than expected at 54.1. (Rock-bottom was in February at 25.3.)
Today, as I mentioned, we have the 5-yr auction, Durable Goods and New Home Sales. After the news we find 30-yr mortgage prices slightly better this morning.
RIP…Ted Kennedy.