The Commerce Department announced that gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2013. This follows a 4.1% pace of growth in the third quarter of 2013.

New home sales fell 7% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 414,000 units. November’s initial reading of 464,000 units was revised to 445,000 units. On a year-over-year basis, new home sales were 4.5% higher than December 2012. At the current sales pace, there is a 5-month supply of new homes on the market. An estimated 428,000 new homes were sold in 2013. This is 16.4% above the 2012 figure of 368,000.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending January 24 fell 0.2% from the previous week. Purchase volume rose 2%. Refinancing applications decreased 2%.

Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, fell 8.7% in December. On a year-over-year basis, December pending home sales were down 8.8%.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index — on a non-seasonally adjusted basis — fell 0.1% in November after a 0.2% increase in October. On a year-over-year basis, prices rose 13.7% when compared with November 2012.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — decreased $10.3 billion, or 4.3%, to $229.3 billion in December. This follows a revised 2.6% increase in November. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, December orders posted a monthly decrease of 1.6%.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending January 25 rose by 19,000 to 348,000. Continuing claims for the week ending January 18 fell by 16,000 to 2.991 million. The less volatile four-week average of claims for unemployment benefits was 333,000.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on construction spending on February 3, factory orders on February 4 and international trade on February 6.