Wall Street Journal (12/25/13) Sarah Portlock; Josh Mitchell

The recent positive reports from the U.S. Department of Commerce on durable goods and new-home sales suggest that the economy is doing better heading into 2014. “It’s a holly, jolly data Christmas for the economy as all signs point to an accelerating economy,” says Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

Orders for U.S. durable goods climbed 3.5% last month, reversing the decline seen in October. Excluding the volatile transportation category, manufactured-goods orders rose 1.2%, the biggest increase since May. Meanwhile, new-home sales hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 last month, down 2.1% from October’s upwardly revised annual rate of 474,000. October and November were the two most robust months of new-home sales since mid-2008.