US data better than expected

Yesterday's economic news from the US surprised on the upside. From Reuters:

The Conference Board said its index of consumer sentiment climbed to 106.5 in July, up from 105.4 in June... Analysts had expected the index to fall to 104.0...

The pace of existing home sales in the United States fell 1.3 percent in June, to the lowest rate since the beginning of the year, as sales of condominiums tumbled and price increases were the weakest in 11 years... Analysts had expected home resales to slow even further...

There were a record 3.73 million homes for sale at the end of June, representing 6.8 months' supply, compared to 6.4 months at the end of May.

Also released on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond's monthly manufacturing index for July rose to 12 from a reading of 4 in June, beating economists' forecasts.

U.S. chain store sales rose 2.1 percent in the third week of July from a year earlier, boosted by some back-to-school buying, according to Redbook Research.

Things also looked a little hotter in Europe yesterday. From Bloomberg:

Prices in Europe's largest economy climbed 0.4 percent from a month earlier, when they rose 0.2 the Federal statistics office in Wiesbaden said in a faxed statement today. Inflation slowed to 1.9 percent from 2 percent in June. That matches the median of 42 economist forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey...

French business confidence increased in July to a five-year high as consumer spending rose and expansion in European economies boosted exports, Paris-based Insee said today...

The South Korean economy, however, slowed in the second quarter. From The Korea Times:

The economy grew 0.8 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter, the lowest quarterly growth since the first quarter of last year, fueling concerns it is losing its growth momentum, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said on Tuesday.