Update USA Asset Allocation
Asset allocation for 2nd Quarter from Global to Individual Sector Neutralized allocations.
Update USA Housing
Housing improved overall in March. Purchases of new, single-family homes increased by 5.8% to an annual rate of 621,000 units. Compared to last year at this time, purchase are 15.6%.
The median sale price for a new home rose 1.2% in March to $315,000.
Update USA Consumer Confidence
Consumer confidence dropped 4.6 percentage points to 120.3 from 124.9 in April. This remains a good number considering the previous month, March, was a sixteen-year high. Confidence is much higher than it was last year.
USA Snap Shot
Markets should move in predictable and steady patterns where rising markets increase just a little bit each day. Then over a month or year period we can look back and see how each day moved along a nice path up or down. It is a shame it doesn’t operate this way. Reality has a way of surprising investors daily. Just look at yesterday. After weeks of sideways movement, the world’s markets all responded in a positive way.
USA Market Relative Fair Valuations
Relative values have hardly moved since March for the large cap classification. In March, relative fair value was at 105.7%. The capitalization classification has only moved 0.7 FV points.