Home Builder Confidence
Industrial Production UtilizationI'm not sure whether to call this a sign of recovery (mild inflation) or of further problems (deflation).
I'd be tempted to go with the former, as both builder confidence and industrial production capacity utilization increased this past month (see pics), but that is from horribly low levels, and objectively, the levels are still horrible.
With UK unemployment hitting the highest level since 1996, would appear to cut the on the down side.
Mortgage applications fell last week, though some of that may come from the 4 day week because of labor day, and they are still well above the trough, though one wonders how long that will last once the tax credit for first time home buyers expires. (More on that later)
In energy, oil rose above $72/bbl on falling inventories.
Currency is getting interesting though, with the dollar falling to a 1 year low, largely on increases in optimism on the economy, but gold hit the highest level since March, 2008 $1,017.65/oz (Troy), and gold generally rises in times of pessimism and uncertainty?
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