The Dickensian atmosphere continues post-Christmas with its juxtaposed delivery of economic news. Fiscal cliff uncertainty and an unexpected drop in the December consumer confidence index helped push treasury yields and stocks lower on Thursday.

The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index fell to a reading of 65.1 in December which was down significantly from the November reading of 71.5. The December index is now at a four month low.

New Home Sales delivered some post-Christmas cheer on Thursday exceeding expectations by delivering a 4.4% gain in November. The strong home sales number continues last week’s trend when existing home sales also delivered better than expected results for November.

Home prices improved for the ninth consecutive month according to the October report out from the S&P Case-Shiller Index. Home prices rose 4.3% in the 20 city index, arriving just above analysts’ expectations of 4% for the month of October.

Triangle housing in 2013 will most likely be the beneficiary of our region’s 2012 housing momentum, and the Triangle is well positioned to take advantage of some attractive housing fundamentals here in North Carolina.

Happy New Year and we will see you in 2013!