Builder Confidence Falls Slightly

The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) released its builder confidence number, which fell to 54 from last month's 59 reading after four monthly gains. "We are seeing a return to the mid-50s index level trend established earlier in the summer, which is in line with the gradual pace of the housing recovery," said NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly. All three components declined, with current sales conditions decreasing six points to 57, while future sales slipped three points to 64 and the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers dropped six points to 41. This housing number comes before Friday's 8:30 a.m. EST release of housing starts, which is expected to show starts at 1.01 million and permits at 1.027 million. Next Tuesday will have the release of existing home sales, which last month showed a rate of 5.05 million units.