Diving, Housing, and Fay

Well, it’s fitting that I am awake at 1AM watching Olympic diving on TV. As Hurricane Fay heads NNW away from Miami, she has left behind a wonderfully choreagraphed onslaught of wind and rain worthy of a medal. In the financial markets, there wasn’t a whole lot of economic data but the markets, led by financials, sold off heavily. We did get a bit of good news from the housing area. Although the National Association of Home Builders held steady at an all-time low, two out three components improved. The expectations of sales in the next 6 months improved and so did the index of present sales, although the latter improved only slightly. The one component holding steady was the traffic of prospective buyers. If we can get some more buyers out shopping, we might really get the ball rolling in the right direction. Note to foreigners: the dollar won’t stay weak forever…buy now.