Crude Oil rose 5.7% this week but was also very volatile falling to $26.20 midweek before rallying to close the week at $31.36. Commercial crude oil inventories (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 3.9 million barrels to 486.5 million barrels in the week ended January 15 from 482.6 million the previous week. The national average retail regular gasoline price fell to $1.914 from $1,996 per gallon the preceding week.
Existing home sales (completed sales of existing single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops) jumped 14.7% to 5.46 million in December from 4.76 million in November, 2015. Additionally, existing home sales are up 7.7% year over year. Total housing inventory i.e. homes available for sale declined by 3.8% in December to 1.76 million from 1.86 million a year ago.
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) fell 0.1% in December, 2015 driven by declines in the food index (down 0.2%) and the energy index (down 2.4%), seasonally adjusted. Over the past 12 months, the CPI-U climbed 0.7% buoyed by gains in the food index (up 0.8%) but was significantly weighted down by declines in the energy index (down 12.6%), not seasonally adjusted.
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