Beige Book Still Beige, Housing Starts Strong
The Federal Reserve issued its "Beige Book" today, finding that "Economic activity continued to expand in September." Retail sales, particularly auto sales, were noted as slowing, though manufacturing, services, and even employment were said to be growing in most regions. Inflation, of course, provided no surprises. It exploded in September. We knew that.
Housing Starts report was surprising, though, growing 3.4% month-over-month in September. Bloomberg helpfully notes that "30-year fixed mortgage rates that are still within a percentage point of a four-decade low fueled demand."
US stocks had quite a run today, with the S&P finishing up some 17 points to close at 1,195.76, possibly helped by today's positive economic assessments, and an earnings reporting season that has not been too bad.
Looking at our valuation worksheet, we see a price-to-earnings ratio for the US large-cap market that is still quite close to the long term historical average, and still well below the average P/E of the "irrational exuberance" years.