As economic reports go, this morning’s updates don’t easily lend themselves to positive spins.
On the inflation front, the government today advised that pricing pressures are again bubbling. As a result, consumer prices rose at an annual pace of 2.8% through September. That equals the previous annual peak (set back in March of this year) and is the highest since August 2006.
Meanwhile, new housing starts continued tumbling last month, the Census Department reported. The annualized total of starts in September dropped more than 10% from August. Measured over the past year, the annualized level of September’s housing starts was down nearly 31%. The bottom line: September’s tally of new housing starts is the lowest in absolute terms since the early 1990s.
Today’s vision of more housing weakness while inflation appears to be picking up a head of steam should encourage no one. The spin meisters, it seems, have their work cut out for them. Then again, as we’ve all learned anew in recent weeks, it’s best not to jump to conclusions. The data are subject to revisions and so today’s truth could be tomorrow’s statistical casualty.
Perhaps, although it’s still hard to overlook the latest set of numbers and think that all’s well. Anything’s possible, but the prospect of future data revisions won’t save the deteriorating state of the housing market. Indeed, September’s darkness is just another extension in a long line of housing ills.