Friday 19 July 2013

US leading index flat, UK retail sales and Chinese home prices rise

US economic data on Thursday were mixed.

The Conference Board's index of US leading indicators was unchanged in June after having risen 0.2 percent in May.

However, the number of claims for unemployment insurance fell by 24,000 to 334,000 last week, the fewest since early May.

Also, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index increased to 19.8, the highest level since March 2011, from 12.5 the prior month.

Meanwhile, a report on Thursday showed that the UK economy is maintaining momentum.

Retail sales rose 0.2 percent in June. For the second quarter as a whole, retail sales contributed 0.1 percentage points of growth to gross domestic product after rising 0.9 percent from the first quarter.

Also maintaining momentum in June was China's home prices. Reuters reports that new home prices in 70 major Chinese cities rose 0.8 percent in June, slowing just slightly from May's increase of 0.9 percent.

The Chinese government had reported on Thursday that home prices had risen in June in 63 of 70 cities it monitors.

Compared with a year ago, new home prices in China rose 6.8 percent in June, the fastest pace since Reuters began calculating the data in January 2011.

1 comment:

Flat in Beijing said...

Chinese home prices is a big problem. It has been keep rising for two years. Common man can not afford a house.

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