Economy/Ecommerce

The Chicago Fed reported on Thursday that its National Activity Index increased to 0.00 in September from -1.17 during August.

The Census Bureau reported on Wednesday that sales of new single-family houses were at an annualized rate of 389,000 in September 2012, which is 5.7 percent above the revised August rate of 368,000 and 27.1 percent above September 2011’s rate of 306,000.

Residential market indices are legion, and these days most of them are pointing toward a steady, if not overheated, U.S. housing recovery in most markets.

LPS reported on Monday that the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate rose to 7.4 percent in September from 6.87 percent in August, a month-over-month spike of 7.72 percent.

Existing home sales dropped 1.7 percent in September to an annualized rate of 4.75 million units, including both single-family and multifamily, according to the National Association, with August’s rate revised upward to 4.83 million.

Proving itself to be the volatile indicator that it’s frequently asserted to be, the number of initial unemployment claims spiked upward for the week ending October 13th to 388,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Census Bureau reported on Wednesday that housing starts jumped in September to an annualized rate of 872,000 units. That’s 15 percent more than the revised August estimate of 758,000, and a whopping 34.8 percent above the September 2011 rate.

The National Association of Home Builders reported on Tuesday that its housing market index edged up by one point in October to 41, meaning that the industry is more optimistic than at any time since June 2006, when the index was headed the other way in the face of the gathering storm in homebuilding.