Redbook Chain Store Sales (week ended 7/25/2019)

- Same Store Sales year/year -7.2%. Previous was -7.5%.

- Same Store Sales month/month +1.1%. Previous was +1.9%.

Year/year is all about COVID. The month/month data shows that store re-openings have helped Chain Store Sales. It is not clear how long this will last as concern has heightened recently and month/month gains were lower.

Source: Redbook Research Inc.

 

Case-Shiller House Price Index (May 2020)

- 20-city, seasonally adjusted month/month 0.0%. Previous was 0.3%
- 20-city, not seasonally adjusted month/month 0.4%. Previous was 0.8%
- 20-city, not seasonally adjusted year/year 3.7%. Previous was 3.9%

Source: Core Logic

Flattened home prices are likely the result of COVID angst which, if nothing else, discourages buying a home in an area with high numbers of infections.

 

Consumer Confidence (July 2020)

- Consumer Confidence 92.6. Previous was 98.3

This is the metric from the Conference Board and is, in normal times, supposed to forecast Consumer Spending in the next 3-6 months. We are not in normal times.

Source: Conference Board