Consumer Price Index, Regional Manufacturing, Housing Market Index
June 16, 2016
Thursday – June 16
The Labor Department reported consumer inflation slowed. The Consumer Price Index increased 0.2 percent last month, from April’s 0.4 percent rise. In the 12 months through May, the CPI gained 1.0 percent after advancing 1.1 percent in April. Stripping out volatile food and energy, core CPI increased 0.2 percent after a similar gain in April. Year-over-year core CPI rose to 2.2 percent from 2.1 percent in April. Gas, housing, apparel and medical costs all rose last month, while the cost of food, prescriptions and vehicles declined. The Fed said Wednesday it expected inflation to remain below its target 2 percent through 2017.
Regional manufacturing data from Philadelphia followed suit with the Empire State Index and expressed growth expectations over the next six months. That being noted, broad indicators of current conditions of the state of manufacturing are not so hot. Little growth and lots of weakness was reported this month in the Index. Employment conditions and work hours were negative. New orders, shipments, delivery times and other indicators remained negative. Optimism is focused on third quarter.
In housing news, builder confidence in the market for newly constructed single-family homes rose two points in June to the highest reading since January 2016, according to the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index (HMI). And home builder confidence is up across the board. Confidence in current sales conditions rose one point to 64, sales expectations in the next six months increased five points to 70, and the component measuring buyer traffic climbed three points to 47. The Housing Market Index (HMI) is based on a monthly survey of NAHB members.
