U.S. home prices continued to decline in February but did not register a new record fall for the first time in 16 months according to the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller index released today. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index measures sale prices of 
existing single-family homes nationally and tracks 10-city and 20-city composite home price measurements.
The February home prices report showed that the 20-city composite index fell an annual 18.6 percent while the 10-city composite index declined by 18.8 percent when compared to last year. The home price declines just beat market forecasts and were barely above January’s record annual declines. January’s home prices registered a 19.4 percent fall in the 10-city index and a 19.0 percent drop in the 20-city index.
The areas hardest hit in February were Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco with annual declines of 35.2 percent, 31.7 percent and 31.0 percent, respectively. On an annual basis, none of the 20 metropolitan areas measured showed house price increases with Dallas and Denver being the areas with the lowest declines at 4.5 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively. On a monthly basis, Cleveland registered the largest house price decline with a fall of 5.0 percent while Dallas registered the smallest decline for the month with a dip of 0.3 percent.
David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S & P, commented in the report saying, “All 20 metro areas recorded a monthly decline in February, but 16 of the 20 metro areas saw an improvement in their monthly returns compared to January. Nine of the 20 metro areas showed improvement in their annual returns compared to their returns in January. Furthermore, this is the first month since October 2007 where the 10- and 20-City Composites did not post a record annual decline.”
U.S. Consumer Confidence gains in April.
U.S. Consumer Confidence rose to its highest point since November according to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index released today. The consumer index, representing responses from 5,000 U.S. households, showed that consumer confidence increased to a 39.2 score this month following a revised 26.9 score in March. The 12.3 point increase easily surpassed market forecasts that were expecting consumer confidence to edge up by 3 points to a 29.9 score for the month and the April score marked the highest level since the 44.7 score produced in November.
The other two parts of the survey also saw increases in April. The present situation section of the index increased to 23.7 from 21.9 in February while the expectations index jumped from 30.2 in March to 49.5 this month.
Lynn Franco, the Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center commented in the report on the increased readings, “Consumer Confidence rose in April to its highest reading in 2009, driven primarily by a significant improvement in the short-term outlook. The Present Situation Index posted a moderate gain, a sign that conditions have not deteriorated further, and may even moderately improve, in the second quarter. The sharp increase in the Expectations Index suggests that consumers believe the economy is nearing a bottom, however, this Index still remains well below levels associated with strong economic growth.”
Forex – U.S. dollar mostly lower in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been under pressure in forex trading today against the major currencies. The dollar has declined versus the euro, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and Swiss franc while showing a slight gain versus the Japanese yen and the Canadian dollar. At time of writing the dollar was virtually unchanged against the British pound sterling.
The euro has advanced versus the USD as the EUR/USD trades at 1.3121 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 1:56pm EST after opening the day at 1.3023 according to currency data from Oanda.
The dollar has edged up against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has increased from its 96.32 opening to trading at 96.51.
The dollar has also gained slightly against the Canadian dollar after opening at 1.2188 earlier today to trading at 1.2207 later. Meanwhile, the USD has also declined against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF has gone from 1.1562 to trading at 1.1448.
The Australian dollar has rebounded after a fall yesterday versus the USD as the AUD/USD trades at 0.7065 after opening today at 0.7047 while the New Zealand dollar has also increased versus the USD as the NZD/USD trades at 0.5586 after opening the day’s trading at 0.5568.
USD/CHF Chart – The US Dollar falling sharply today versus the Swiss Franc in Forex Trading after increasing from the beginning of the week.
