Homebuilding in U.S. Probably Fell in July

Quote: Labor Department figures, also due at 8:30 a.m., may show the import-price index fell 0.1 percent last month, the second straight decline as commodity prices dropped, according to the Bloomberg News survey median. At 9:15 a.m., the Fed may report industrial production grew 0.5 percent in July after a 0.2 percent gain in June, according to the survey median. Economists’ forecasts ranged from 0.1 percent to 1 percent. Manufacturing, included in the industrial output report, accounts for about 12 percent of the economy. Oklahoma, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Last month was the fourth-warmest July in 117 years, it said. Manufacturing ‘Cooling’ “Industrial production improved a bit after supply disruptions eased and it got a boost from utilities last month,” said Shapiro. “But the manufacturing sector is cooling from an unsustainably strong pace as economies around the world are slowing. We have a very weak economy.” Builders have little incentive to take on more work. Combined sales of new and previously owned homes dropped in June to the lowest level of the year, according to reports from the Commerce Department and the National Association of Realtors. The median price of a single-family house dropped in 109 out of 150 metropolitan areas in the second quarter as foreclosures devalued real estate, the Realtors group said in a report on Aug. 10. Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after its meeting on Aug. 9. “Economic growth so far this year has been considerably slower than the Committee had expected.” Lending Rules Bank-lending standards on home mortgages were little changed for both prime and non-traditional loans during the second quarter, the Fed said yesterday in its survey of senior loan officers. In addition, about three-quarters of banks said they expected the pace of mortgage lending “to remain at about the same level throug...
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