Economy Watch: Sales, Mortgage, Gas

ShopperTrak Retail Sales Data
For the week ended August 15, 2011, ShopperTrak's National Retail Sales Estimate rose 0.9% to $95.099 billion from the week before of $94.273 billion, but was down 5.4% from the same period last year. So much for Back-to-School sales....

Mortgage Rates Drop Again
Bankrate.com reported that the average conforming 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 4.46% from last week's 4.54%, according to its weekly national survey ending August 10, 2011. It also reported that the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 3.61% from 3.68% last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported mortgage applications were up a whopping 21.7% compared to one week earlier, with 75.6% of mortgage loans going toward refinancing rather than home purchases.

Gas Prices Drop
The Energy Department announced that for week ending August 15, 2011, the average price of US gasoline fell to $3.600 a gallon from $3.674 per gallon week earlier.

Diesel prices fell to $3.90 from $3.94 last week.

If there was one good thing about the Congression impasse about the US national debt ceiling, it was that pessimism bloomed about economic recovery, which in turn dampened expectations for greater demand of oil, which drove down per barrel prices 20% from May, which dropped the cost of gas at the pump.