Pending Home Sales, that is, the number of homes that are under contract but not yet closed, rose 8.1% last month. FINALLY.  Last month only saw a 1.1% increase and we were expecting only a 1.0% bump this month.  Despite the winter storms that have paralyzed many parts of the country this last week, people are out buying homes.

People aren’t buying other expensive stuff though.  Durable Goods Orders (which is everything else we buy that’s designed to last us a year or longer) dropped -4.5% this month after a 5.0% increase last month. Bad for the economy; good for inflation. Good for interest rates, which is why we’re seeing some reprieve today.