Case-Shiller Index Down, But Consumer Confidence Up

The Case-Shiller Index for November revealed an average 1.0% drop in home prices over 20 cities, with 19 of them showing declines. The release of the news at 9 AM ET did little to help gold, which was already in a decline.

After a recovery, that decline climaxed when the much better consumer-confidence news was disseminated at 10:00. The Index of Consumer Confidence January number jumped to 60.6, way above consensus expectations for 54.8.

"Consumers rated business and labor-market conditions more favorably and expressed greater confidence that the economy will continue to expand and generate more jobs in the months ahead," said Lynn Franco, director of Conference Board's consumer research center, in a statement. "Although pessimists still outnumber optimists, the gap has narrowed." Confidence in December reached an upwardly revised 53.3, compared with a prior estimate of 52.5.

Unlike the Case-Shiller number, this one is not good for gold. As indicated above, the metal went on a slide from $1,329 to $1,323 that ended at the time of the release. It's as if the gold market knew what was coming and discounted it.