U.S. Existing Homes sales increased more than expected for the month of April 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 increased 2.9 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million units.
Economic forecasts were predicting an increase of 2.0 percent for the month following a revised 3.4 percent decrease in March. On an annual basis, April’s existing-homes sales are 3.5 percent lower than the April 2008 sales pace of 4.85 million units.
The median sales price for existing homes was $170,200 in April while total housing inventory showed an increase of 8.8 percent in April to a total of 3.97 million homes.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented on April’s increase saying, “Most of the sales are taking place in lower price ranges and activity is beginning to pick up in the midprice ranges, but high-end home sales remain sluggish”.
US Dollar mixed in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been mixed today in forex trading against the other major currencies. The U.S. stock markets have been in negative territory today as General Motors looks to be headed towards bankruptcy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost almost 100 points so far today while the Nadaq and the S&P500 have declined approximately 3.80 points and 7.83 points, respectively.
The dollar, meanwhile, has been higher versus the euro, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc while falling against the Japanese yen and the British pound.
The euro has declined versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has fallen from its 1.3976 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at 1.3916 in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session at 2:58pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound has continued its climb today as the GBP/USD has advanced from its 1.5973 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.6045 usd per gbp. The dollar has fallen versus the Japanese yen and trading at 95.19 after opening at the day at the 95.41 exchange rate.
The dollar has gained slightly today versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.1149 after opening the day at 1.1133.
The dollar has gained against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0868 after opening at 1.0852 today while the dollar has also been stronger against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.7831 after a 0.7872 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.6194 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.6228.
GBP/USD Chart – The British Pound advancing today versus the US dollar in forex trading and trading at its highest level since November 2008.
