Home Sales Weaker.

Industrial Production (September 2013)

- Production Month/Month +0.6%

- Capacity Utilization Rate 78.3%. Previous was 77.9%

- Manufacturing Month/Month +0.1%. Previous revised from +0.7% to +0.5%.

Some of the gain in Industrial Production was due to cold weather which increased utility output by 4.4%.

Pending Home Sales Index  (September 2013)

- Pending Home Sales Index 101.6.  Previous revised to 107.6.

What’s wrong?  As always this is the result of many factors but try these:  a weak jobs market, higher prices which we should hope are leveling off, and tougher mortgage qualifying standards.

Home buyers will be confronted next year by two factors:  1) the QRM (qualified residential mortgage) standards will reduce the max debt ratio and 2) it appears that next spring FHFA will reduce the max size for conforming loans.

Dallas Federal Reserve Manufacturing Survey (October 2013)

- Business Activity Index  3.6. Previous was 12.8  – Production Index  13.3. Previous was 11.5.

This is a survey of manufacturing in Texas and is interesting because Texas has recently been a leader in producing manufacturing jobs.