U.S. Building Permits at 5-Year High, Consumer Confidence Falls

Nichole Harper
26 Nov, 2013
New York City

Stocks advanced and extended year-to-date gains. Metropolitan home prices index increased in September. Building permits jumped to a five-year high in October and consumer confidence index declined to a seven-month low.

[R]1:25 PM New York – Stocks advanced and extended year-to-date gains. Metropolitan home prices index increased in September. Building permits jumped to a five-year high in October and consumer confidence index declined to a seven-month low.[/R]

Stocks advanced in New York trading after two construction reports and the release of consumer confidence survey.

S&P 500 index gained 1.41 to 1,803.39 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 13.52 to 4,008.09.

Consumer confidence index declined to a seven-month low in November as more residents turned cautious about the jobs outlook.

The Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence declined to 70.4 in November from 72.4 in October.

Building Permits Jump to 5-Year High

Building permits increased 6.2% in October to an annual rate of 1.03 million homes from a pace of 974,000 units in September, the Commerce Department said today.

The monthly permits issued were the most since June 2008. Housing starts data are scheduled to be released on December 18 because of the government shut-down in October prevented the agency from gathering the data in time.

Multi-family unit construction permits increased 15.3% to an annual rate of 414,000 in October following a surge of 20.1% in September.

A separate report showed metropolitan home prices continued to rise in September. The controversial S&P/Case-Shiller Index increased 0.7% in September from August and jumped 13.3% from a year ago month.

Home prices increased in 13 of 20 cities but growth rates declined in the month compared to August month. Four cities reported home price increase of more than 20%.

From a year ago, home prices increased 29.1% in Las Vegas; gained 25.7% in San Francisco; 21.8% in Los Angeles; 20.9% in San Diego.

U.S. Stocks in Review

Hewlett Packard Company ((HPQ)) declined 0.4% to $25.23 ahead of earnings report later after the market close today.

Ligan Pharmaceuticals Inc ((LGND)) increased 4.7% to $57.32 after the company was selected by S&P to be included from tomorrow in its S&P 600 index tracking smaller cap companies form tomorrow.

The index manager will drop SHFL Entertainment Inc which last traded at $23.19 at close on yesterday.

Jos. A. Bank ((JOSB)) soared 12% and Men’s Wearhouse ((MW)) increased 6%. Men’s Wearhouse offered to acquire Jos. A. Bank for $1.2 billion after it received an offer to be purchased by the company.

Nuance Communication Inc ((NUAN)) plunged 15% to $13.60 after the speech recognition software developer estimated lower than expected full-year 2014 revenues between $2.03 billion and $2.09 billion.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc ((TTWO)) declined 4% to $16.24 after the company acquired 12 million shares held by Icahn Group at yesterday’s close price of $16.93 a share. Brett Icahn and Nelson Cho resigned from the board representing Icahn Group’s interest.

Tiffany & Co ((TIF)) gained 8% after the jewelry retailer reported higher income and revised higher its annual earnings outlook.

Workaday Inc. ((WDAY)) soared 8% after the online human resource software developer estimated higher-than-expected fourth quarter revenues of as much as $138 million.