U.S. home prices continued to decline and fell a record amount in the first quarter of 2009 according to the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller index released today. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index 
measures sale prices of existing single-family homes nationally and tracks 10-city and 20-city composite home price measurements.
The first quarter of 2009 home prices report showed that the National Home Price Index fell by a new record of 19.1 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2008. The house price report for the month of March showed that the 20-city composite index fell an annual rate of 18.7 percent while the 10-city composite index declined by 18.6 percent when compared to last year.
The areas hardest hit in March were Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco with annual declines of 36.0 percent, 31.2 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively. On an annual basis, none of the 20 metropolitan areas measured showed house price increases with Dallas and Denver being the areas with the lowest declines at 5.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. On a monthly basis, Charlotte registered the highest house price gain with a rise of 0.3 percent while Denver saw a 0.1 percent gain and Dallas showed no change in March. Minneapolis registered the largest house price decline with a fall of 6.1 percent while Detroit saw a decline of 4.9 percent for the month.
David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S & P, commented in the report saying, “All 20 metro areas are still showing negative annual rates of change in average home prices with nine of the metro areas having record annual declines. Seventeen metro areas recorded a monthly decline in March, with Minneapolis, Detroit and New York posting record monthly declines. On a positive note, nine of MSAs are reporting a relative improvement in year-over-year returns and nine of the 20 metro areas saw an improvement in their monthly returns compared to February. Furthermore, this is the second month since October 2007 where the 10- and 20-City Composites did not post a record annual decline.”
U.S. Consumer Confidence gains again in May.
U.S. Consumer Confidence rose by the most in six years according to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index released today. The consumer index, representing responses from 5,000 U.S. households, showed that consumer confidence increased to a 54.9 score this month following a revised 40.8 score in April. Today’s report brought consumer confidence to its highest level since September 2008 and marked the second consecutive month of better than expected gains. The 14.1 point increase easily surpassed market forecasts that were expecting consumer confidence to edge up by approximately 1.2 points to a 42.0 score for the month.
The other two parts of the survey also saw increases in May. The present situation section of the index increased to 28.9 from 25.5 in April while the expectations index surged from 51.0 in April to 72.3 this month.
Lynn Franco, the Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center commented in the report on the increased readings, “After two months of significant improvements, the Consumer Confidence Index is now at its highest level in eight months (Sept. 2008, 61.4). Continued gains in the Present Situation Index indicate that current conditions have moderately improved, and growth in the second quarter is likely to be less negative than in the first. Looking ahead, consumers are considerably less pessimistic than they were earlier this year, and expectations are that business conditions, the labor market and incomes will improve in the coming months.”
Forex – U.S. dollar lower in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been trading lower in forex trading today against the major currencies. The dollar has declined versus the euro, British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and Swiss franc while showing a gain versus the Japanese yen.
The euro has advanced versus the USD as the EUR/USD trades at 1.3988 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 2:46pm EST after opening the day at 1.3971 according to currency data from Oanda. The British pound has gained as the GBP/USD has gone from its 1.5878 opening rate to trading later at 1.5930.
The dollar has edged up against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has increased from its 94.62 opening to trading at 95.01.
The dollar has fallen against the Canadian dollar after opening at 1.1265 earlier today to trading at 1.1178 later. Meanwhile, the USD has also declined against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF has gone from 1.0863 to trading at 1.0839.
The Australian dollar has gained versus the USD as the AUD/USD trades at 0.7847 after opening today at 0.7778 while the New Zealand dollar has also increased versus the USD as the NZD/USD trades at 0.6244 after opening the day’s trading at 0.6178.
USD/CAD Chart – The US Dollar continuing to fall today versus the Canadian Dollar in Forex Trading. The USD has fallen six out of the last seven days against the CAD and today traded at its lowest point since October.
