Economy/Ecommerce

Construction spending took a dive in January; Geithner outlines a strategy for “winding down” Fannie and Freddie; and the House passes a temporary spending measure to keep the federal government breathing for now.

Incomes were up in January, with help from the cut in Social Security taxes; pending home sales dipped; and the NABE predicts better GDP growth a previous projection.

U.S. GDP wasn’t quite as robust in the fourth quarter of 2010 as the U.S. Department of Commerce had previously estimated. On Friday, growth was recalibrated by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to an annualized rate of 2.8 percent, down from an earlier estimate of 3.2 percent.

New home sales took a dive in January; Goldman Sachs predicts budget cuts would slow U.S. growth; and oil markets nervously await the outcome of the upheaval in Libya.

Existing home sales rose unexpectedly during January, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), up 2.7 percent from the previous month. The annualized sales rate was 5.36 million units, which compares to roughly 4.9 million sold in all of 2010 (using NAR figures).

The latest S&P/Case-Shiller indexes on U.S. housing prices confirm that home valuations are still on the slide. In fact, almost all of the small pricing uptick experienced in 2009, which probably was a result of the long-gone federal homebuyer tax credit, has been erased. A continuing influx of distressed properties put further pressure on prices.

Is the federal government going to shut down because of the fracas between zealous House members (including freshman who weren’t around for the ’95 shutdown), somewhat less zealous members of Congress and the administration? On Saturday, the House passed by 235-189 a bill that cut more than $61 billion from fiscal 2011–the year underway–as part of a temporary funding measure.

An increase in multifamily starts offset a drop in single-family housing starts in January; and analysts are worried about inflation, although the Fed isn’t.