Retail and food services sales for June were $422.8 billion, up by 0.4 percent from the previous month. And home prices climbed another 0.5 percent in May compared with April.

Gas prices have risen from $3.474 a year ago to $3.60 today for a gallon of regular gas. The official Producer Price Index for finished goods increased 0.8 percent in June. And consumer sentiment saw a downtick in mid-July.

Fixed mortgage rates are continuing to trend higher, presumably on market speculation that the Federal Reserve will reduce future bond purchases. And investors are turning to stocks because other kinds of investments have proved disappointing lately.

The central bank is indeed planning to “taper” its QE3 stimulus program. At least half of the committee seemed to be on board with that idea. The number of U.S. residential properties with foreclosure filings fell 23 percent in the first half of 2013, compared with the same period last year.

Rates for 30-year fixed mortgages were up this week at 4.41 percent, compared to 4.17 percent last Tuesday. There were 3.8 million job openings on the last business day of May, little changed from April. And small business optimism, which has been rising lately, took a dip in June.

Construction spending during May was 0.5 percent above the revised April rate. Unemployment in the eurozone continued creeping upward in May. And the ISM manufacturing index pointed to expansion in June.

Real gross domestic product increased at an annualized rate of 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013, which represents a downward revision of the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ previous estimate. In May, coincident indexes increased in 33 states. And the annualized sales rate for new cars is predicted to be 15.7 million units in June, up from 15.3 million in May.

The Chicago Fed reported that its National Activity Index increased to –0.30 in May from –0.52 in April. Three other Fed reports released in June pointed to higher than expected economic expansions, showing a rise in general business activity.

Total existing-home sales rose 4.2 percent to an annualized rate of 5.18 million units in May from 4.97 million in April. And Wall Street continued on a post-FOMC meeting trajectory on Thursday, as the equities markets kept dropping.

Since the Fed is a bit more optimistic about the economy now, there are talks of reducing the rate of bond-buying, which is scheduled to start at the end of 2013. And the Architecture Billings Index bounced back dramatically in May at 52.9, compared to 48.6 in April.