By CountingPips.com
Economic news out of the U.S. showed that consumer confidence increased for the third straight month in January according to the report released today by the Conference Board. The Consumer Confidence Index, which surveys 5,000 U.S. households, rose by 2.3 points from 53.6 in December to 55.9 in January and brought the index to its highest level in 16 months. Consumers felt better about the current economy as the present situation index increased by almost 5 points from 20.2 in December to 25.0 in January. The Expectations index, meanwhile, edged up modestly 
in January to 76.5 from 75.9 in December.
The Director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco talked about the newest survey saying, “Consumer Confidence rose for the third consecutive month, primarily the result of an improvement in present-day conditions. Consumers’ short-term outlook, while moderately more positive, does not suggest any significant pickup in activity in the coming months. Regarding their financial situation, while consumers were less dire about their income prospects than in December, the number of pessimists continues to outnumber the optimists.”
House Prices falling at slower pace
Home prices in the U.S. continued to decline but at slower pace according to the Standard & Poors/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released today. The S & P’s/Case-Shiller Index measures sales prices of existing single-family homes nationally and tracks 10-city and 20-city composite home price measurements. The report showed that the 10-city composite index decreased by 0.2 percent in November while the 20-city composite also declined by 0.2 percent in November on a seasonally adjusted basis.
On an annual basis, the 10-city composite fell by 4.5 percent in November from the November 2008 level while the 20-city composite is 5.3 percent lower than November 2008 level. This is the third month in a row the index has fallen by less than 10 percent after 20 straight months of over 10 percent declines.
David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, commented on the report saying, “While we continue to see broad improvement in home prices as measured by the annual rate, the latest data show a far more mixed picture when you look at other details. Only five of the markets saw price increases in November versus October. What is more interesting is that four of the markets – Charlotte, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa – posted new low index levels as measured by the past four years.”
“On the flip side, there are still some markets that continue to improve month-over-month. Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco have seen prices increase for at least six consecutive months.”
Phoenix showed the largest monthly house price increase in November with a 1.1 percent increase while Chicago registered the largest decrease with a 1.1 percent decline. On an annual basis, Dallas house prices have fared the best with a 1.4 percent increase from November 2008 to November 2009 while Las Vegas had the largest house price decrease with an annual decline of 24.5 percent.
