By CountingPips.com
U.S. durable goods orders increased more than expected in April after falling in March according to a report released by the U.S. Commerce Department today. Durable goods orders in the United States advanced by 1.9 percent in April to a total of $161.5 billion after declining by a revised 2.1 percent in March. Durable goods sales had rebounded in February after falling for six straight months. Today’s data beat market forecasts that had been expecting that durable goods orders would increase by approximately 0.5 percent for the month.
New orders for durable goods excluding transportation gained by 0.8 percent in April following a revised decrease of 2.7 percent in March. Market forecasts were predicting a decrease of 0.3 percent in durable goods minus transportation.
Shipments of durable goods decreased in April by 0.3 percent and fell for the ninth straight month. Unfilled orders decreased 1.2 percent in the month while durable good inventories decreased by 0.8 percent and have now declined for four straight months. March nondefense orders for new goods fell by 2.0 percent while defense orders for capital goods rose by 23.2 percent.
U.S. New Home Sales edge up in April.
New Home Sales in the United States gained slightly in the month of April according to data released by the Department of Commerce today. Purchases of new single family homes rose to an annual rate of 352,000 in April, a 0.3 percent advancement following March’s 3.0 percent revised decrease in sales. April’s annual rate of new homes sold, despite the increase, is still 34.0 percent lower than the April 2008 level.
April’s results were worse than market forecasts which were expecting a 1.1 percent increase in sales for the month for an annual rate of 360,000 new homes sold. The median sales price of new homes in April fell by 15 percent on an annual basis to $209,700 while the average sales price came in at $254,000.
Also released out of the U.S. today was the weekly jobless claims report by the Department of Labor and the report showed that jobless claims fell by 13,000 workers in the week that ended May 23rd. This was the second week in a row jobless claims fell and the data beat market forecasts that were expecting to see 628,000 claims. Continuing jobless claims continued to rise and marked a new record high with 6,788,000 claims for the week ending May 16th. This was 110,000 above the previous week and was worse than forecasts were expecting.
US Dollar mixed in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been mixed today in forex trading against the other major currencies. The dollar has been higher versus the Japanese yen and the British pound while falling against the euro, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
The euro has climbed higher versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has gone from its 1.3819 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at 1.3915 in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session at 12:55pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound has fallen today as the GBP/USD has declined from its 1.5906 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.5979 usd per gbp. The dollar has gained versus the Japanese yen and trading at 96.96 after opening at the day at the 96.24 exchange rate.
The dollar has lost ground today versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.1180 after opening the day at 1.1228.
The dollar has declined against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0864 after opening at 1.0937 today while the dollar has also been weaker against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.7802 after a 0.7768 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.6210 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.6130.
GBP/USD Chart – The British Pound falling today versus the US dollar in forex trading after gaining for the last seven out of eight days.
