theGrio and CNBC Market Update 9/24/12

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Investors received more signs of a housing market turnaround last week.  Housing stocks rose by 2.3 percent in August, but building permits, a gauge of future building activity, declined by 1 percent.  Sales of previously owned homes jumped 7.8 percent and sales prices increased as well.  On the jobs front, new claims for jobless benefits fell by 3,000 to 382,000, above the key 375,000 threshold, highlighting weakness in the labor market.  In the week ahead, we expect data on GDP, consumer spending, and home prices.

We will gain insight on the economy with the final estimate of second quarter GDP, which looks at all the goods and services produced from April thru June.  The second estimate says the economy grew by 1.7 percent, as consumer spending was stronger than expected.

On the topic of consumer spending, we’ll analyze the August personal income report.  In July, income rose 3 tenths of 1 percent and consumer spending rose 4 tenths of 1 percent, reaching it’s highest level in 5 months and giving a boost to the retail sector.

We’ll get a read on housing with the July case-shiller home price index report. In june home prices rose nearly 1 percent marking five months of improvement… Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit posted some of the biggest one month gains, highlighting the housing recovery.

And that’s your CNBC Market Look Ahead for theGrio.com.