US Existing Home Sales fall, Weekly Jobless Claims rise. US Dollar falls in Forex Trading Today.

U.S. Existing Homes sales decreased more than expected in the month of March according to the monthly report produced by the National Association of Realtors. The NAR report showed that existing-home sales including single family homes, co-ops and townhouses decreased 3.0 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million units. March’s dip in sales followed the revised decrease of 4.9 percent in existing-home sales in February.  The March sales data surpassed economic forecasts that were expecting a decrease in sales by 1.5 percent for the month.

On an annual basis, March’s existing-homes sales are 7.1 percent below the March 2008 sales level. The median sales price for existing homes in March registered at $175,200, a decline of 12.4 percent from March 2008. Total houses left on the market showed a decrease for the month by 1.6 percent to a total of 3.74 million homes.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented on the real estate market in March, “The share of lower priced home sales has trended up, indicating a return of many first-time buyers, which we also see in a parallel member survey,” but that, “Sales in the upper price ranges remain stalled because of higher interest rates on jumbo loans.”

Data on new homes sales in the U.S. is scheduled to be released tommorow at 14:00 GMT by the U.S. Census Bureau.

U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims increased by 27,000.

U.S. new jobless claims increased by 27,000 people in the week ending April 18th to a seasonally adjusted total of 640,000 workers according to data released by the U.S. Labor Department. The prior week had registered a revised total of 613,000 new jobless claims. A four week moving average of new unemployment claims showed a decrease of 4,250 workers to a rate of 646,750 workers.

Workers receiving continuing unemployment benefits for the week ending April 11th increased by 93,000 workers to a total of 6,137,000, up from the week before which saw a revised total of 6,044,000. The four week moving average of continuing claims increased by 142,500 workers to a total of 5,944,000 workers.

Forex Market – US Dollar falling in forex trading today.

The U.S. dollar has been weaker so far today in forex trading against all the major currencies as the dollar has shown losses against the euro, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, New Zealand dollar and British pound while showing a slight gain against the Japanese yen.

The euro has gained versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has advanced from today’s 1.2999 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at approximately 1.3067 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 12:22pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.

The British pound has climbed higher today versus the American currency from the GBP/USD’s 1.4469 opening to trading later at 1.4642 dollars per pound. The dollar has advanced slightly against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has gained from its 97.68 opening to trading at 97.82 yen per usd. The dollar has declined against the Canadian dollar after the USD/CAD opened at 1.2400 earlier today to trading later at 1.2276.

The USD has also decreased against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF has gone from its 1.1648 opening to trading at the 1.1564 exchange rate. The Australian dollar has gained ground versus the dollar as the AUD/USD has advanced from 0.7045 to 0.7109 while the New Zealand dollar has advanced from 0.5553 usd per nzd to trading at 0.5569 later today.

GBP/USD Chart -The British Pound Sterling increasing versus the US Dollar today in Forex Trading.