UK second quarter GDP revised up, eurozone confidence and US home prices rise

UK second quarter GDP has been revised upward. Bloomberg reports:

The U.K. economy shrank less than previously estimated in the second quarter and mortgage approvals stayed near the highest in more than a year last month, a sign Britain is emerging from recession.

Gross domestic product fell 0.6 percent from the first quarter, compared with a prior measurement of a 0.7 percent drop, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. Banks granted 52,317 loans to buy homes in August, close to the highest level since April 2008, a separate report by the Bank of England showed.

In other signs that things are turning positive for the UK, the CBI's distributive trades survey sales balance rose to +3 in September from -16 in August and the GfK/NOP consumer confidence index rose to -16 this month from -25 in August.

Confidence is also on the rise in the euro area. Bloomberg reports:

European confidence in the economic outlook increased to the highest in 12 months in September as the economy showed signs of rebounding from the worst recession in more than six decades.

An index of executive and consumer sentiment in the 16- nation euro region rose to 82.8, the highest since September 2008, from 80.8 in August, the European Commission in Brussels said today. That was the sixth straight monthly gain. Economists had projected an increase to 82.7, a Bloomberg survey showed.

In the US, consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in September but home prices appear to be making a long-awaited recovery. Again from Bloomberg:

Home values in 20 U.S. cities climbed in July by the most in almost four years, helping stem the record plunge in household wealth that’s depressed spending.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index rose 1.2 percent in July from the prior month, the biggest gain since October 2005, the group said today in New York...

The New York-based Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 53.1 in September from 54.5 the prior month, the private research group said today, amid growing concern over the lack of jobs. The gauge sank to 25.3 in February, the lowest level in data going back to 1967.