Weekly Real Estate Market Update for Cobb County, Cherokee County, and Paulding County

Weekly Market Recap 

A stronger than expected jobs number on Friday reversed the market’s price action over the past week. After seeing 10yr yields post a 2.55% handle, they look to close out the week over 2.60% once again. Stocks have had a rough week off some weaker manufacturing data out of China, Apple downgrading revenue estimates, and more concerns over trade. While the market is not sure we’ve seen a bottom just yet, it looks as if equities are at least taking a breather to finish out the week. For interest rates, we still think the market has a possibility of seeing lower yields, but with momentum overcooked, the bond market needed a break as well to regain its footing. Looking ahead to next week, we will see more data on ISM and PMI services, factory orders, international trade, and CPI.

ADP Employment

The ADP Private Employment number for December rose by a very strong +271k. This is now the best headline gain since back in February 2017. The report notes that “a busy holiday season impacted trade and hospitality, but still saw businesses overall continuing to add aggressively to payrolls despite stock market slump and the trade war.”

ISM Manufacturing

The ISM Manufacturing Index fell -5.2 points to 54.1, now its lowest level in roughly 25 months. According to ISM, even with the index suggesting overall modest growth, only 11 of the 18 industries reported an increase in December. If we look within the report, the biggest decline came in the New Orders index, which was down -11 points to 51.1 and the slowest pace since August 2016.

December Jobs Report

Non-farm payrolls posted a strong +312k new jobs for December, now the strongest of all of 2018. Upward revisions totaling +58k over the past two months also helped make the headline much stronger. Although the unemployment rate gains .2% to 3.9%, we saw a large increase in the labor participation to 63.1%. Average hourly earnings gained +.4%, bringing the year over year pace to +3.2% and a new cycle high.

COBB COUNTY REAL ESTATE MARKET

CHEROKEE COUNTY REAL ESTATE MARKET UPDATE

PAULDING COUNTY REAL ESTATE MARKET UPDATE

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