I remember when this was occurring routinely with the job reports. For a while, it seemed as regular as a ticking clock, the previous numbers were revised down, and the current numbers were a big gain over the revised numbers. This slight of hand that only convinces the truly dense and economics reporters^* served primarily to boost Bush’s numbers.

Well, it appears to have happened again, this time with Housing. New home sales are reported to have 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 770,000 from a revised 735,000 (it was originally 795000) in August. Very convenient how all those revisions work.

So, we were down by 25,000 from the first reported number, but it’s an increase because the number was corrected downward.

Anyone want to guess if this happens next month?

^*But I’m repeating myself.