Pending Home Sales Fall Slightly

- Pending Home Sales for October fell 1.7% versus estimates of a .5% decline and a 1.1% decline in September.

BOTTOM LINE: Contracts to buy previously owned homes in the US fell more than expected in October, Bloomberg reported. Pending re-sales fell 2.7% in the West, .6% in the Mid-west, 1.7% in the South and 2.1% in the Northeast. Fed Chairman Bernanke said in a speech last week that there is little evidence that the weakness in housing markets is spilling over more broadly to consumer spending or aggregate employment. The Fed’s Moskow reiterated those thoughts this morning. The Case-Schiller Housing futures are only projecting a 3.4% decline in the average home price over the next six months, up from projections of a 5.2% decrease a couple of months ago. I continue to believe the housing market is well into the process of stabilizing at relatively high levels.