U.S. statistics: a harvest of good news
The first Monday of November provides macroeconomic statistics U.S. very encouraging. This is especially true when we know that two of them affecting a key sector of the economy: real estate.
According to the monthly survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the number of promises of home sales rose in September for the eighth consecutive month, jumping 6.1% from August. This brings the index to a level of 110.1 against 103.8 (confirmed) in August, a highest since December 2006. In one year, promises of sales increased by 21.2%. Lawrence Yun, an analyst quoted in the press, says a rush of first-time buyers trying to "benefit from the tax credit before it expires.
Real estate still a good news side of the construction costs.These were conducted in September their strongest growth last year, according to figures released Monday by the Commerce Department. Spending and advanced 0.8% from August. A surprise to analysts who had forecast a decline rather than 0.2%. September's rise puts an end to four consecutive months of decline in construction spending. In one year, are falling by 13%. The real estate sector, whose bubble burst in 2007 sowed the seeds of the current financial crisis, followed closely by the markets.
Finally, in a totally different register, the manufacturing sector was also surprised analysts. The index of the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) is in fact emerged in October to 55.7 against 52.6 in September. Analysts had expected a figure moving around 53."Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in October for the third consecutive month and the overall economy grew for the sixth straight month, the ISM wrote in the report of its investigation Monthly. This index was back to over 50 last August, boundary between contraction and expansion activity.