Sales of new single-family homes fell in December, while less volatile longer-term trends showed continued improvement, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Commerce
Sales of new single-family homes fell 7.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 369,000 in December
Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast new-home sales to hit 385,000 in December Despite December's decline, sales rose 8.8% from the same period in the prior year
The sales rate in November was revised up to 398,000 from a prior estimate of 377,000
The median price of new homes rose 1.3% to $248,900 in December
The supply of new homes available for purchase rose to 4.9 months in December at the current sales rate from 4.5 months in November
The median sales price increased 13.9% from the prior year's period
For all of 2012, the government estimated that 367,000 new homes were sold, the highest level since 2009
The median sales price for 2012 reached $243,600, the highest since 2007
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. economy is showing signs of improvement and there are reasons to be optimistic about growth prospects, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Friday while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“With housing stabilizing, probably going back up, with cash on the sidelines, with the blessings of the energy situation,” Blankfein said in an interview with cable channel CNBC. “The U.S. environment is very good.”
Blankfein’s comments on the economy, which also referred to the favorable interest rate environment, were similar to those of other bank CEOs in Davos, including J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman. The comments reflect a sentiment among bank leaders that the economy is improving and is ready to take off if policy makers in Washington make the right decisions. See full story on bank CEO comments from Davos.
CNBC
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein
Blankfein said a lot of risks are off the table when it comes to the euro zone. “There is a lot of relief that the euro isn’t going to collapse,” said Blankfein. “The worst case scenario is taken off the table.”
In terms of the equity market, Blankfein said most investors probably want the market to go down so they can get in. “The market has gone up with people being under-invested,” said Blankfein.
On interest rates, the Goldman Sachs /quotes/zigman/188479/quotes/nls/gs GS -0.37% CEO said rates are likely to rise and it won’t necessarily happen when the Fed changes interest rate policy.
“It’ll be when the market decides the Fed will have to change interest rate policy,” said Blankfein.
Blankfein also said conditions are right for an increase in mergers and acquisitions.
Goldman Sachs earnings almost tripled in the fourth quarter. When asked if he would leave Goldman Sachs if he got a pay cut, Blankfein said “not today, no.”
Blankfein receives a $2 million salary and for 2012 was given a total bonus of $19 million consisting of stock and cash.
Goldman stock was trading slightly lower Friday, but is up 13% this year and 33% in the last 12 months. J.P. Morgan /quotes/zigman/272085/quotes/nls/jpm JPM +1.29% , Morgan Stanley /quotes/zigman/182639/quotes/nls/ms MS +0.61% and Bank of America /quotes/zigman/190927/quotes/nls/bac BAC +0.74% stocks were all up today. The Financial Select Spector index /quotes/zigman/246222/quotes/nls/xlf XLF +0.37% , which tracks financial stocks in the S&P 500, is also up slightly today and up 1.50% for the week.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Orders for big-ticket U.S. goods jumped 4.6% in December, propelled by a large batch of orders for Boeing aircraft. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected orders to climb 2.3%. Stripping out the herky-jerky transportation sector, orders rose a smaller but still solid 1.3% as booking for military hardware surged, the Commerce Department reported. Yet orders for core capital goods, a key barometer of private-sector business investment, only rose a scant 0.2% after two straight months of strong gains. And over the past 12 months these orders have actually fallen 0.3%.
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