JPM economist Daniel Silver noted.....>

US DATA REACT: JPM economist Daniel Silver noted that new US "single-family home

sales declined 3.4% to 560,000 saar in August. This outcome was below

expectations, and data for the prior three months were revised down by a net

19,000 even though the July figure was revised higher. It is possible that

Hurricane Harvey depressed sales in August, and a 4.7% drop in sales in the

South drove the headline figure lower.

- "But sales were also down in the Northeast and West during the month, and the

trend in the home sales data had been weakening even before the recent storms

hit," Silver said. "The softening in the home sales data over the past several

months has come at a time when many other housing indicators have also weakened,

and we are confident in our view that real residential investment will decline

in 3Q."