The Conference Board reports its consumer confidence index fell to 117.9 in May from 119.4 in April. Current conditions are up slightly while the six month outlook is down. In February confidence hit its highest level in more than 16 years.
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index rose 5.9% compared to a year ago in the first quarter. That was a tick higher than the 5.8% expected by economists and the strongest annual price gain since July 2014. The national index is up 5.8% for the year, the highest rate in 33 months. The 20-city index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.9% during the month, while the national index was up 0.3%.The strongest price increases in March were in Seattle, Portland, Dallas and Denver. Seattle led, up 2.6% for the month and 12.3% for the year while Portland was up 1% for the month and 9.2% for the year.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
