By CountingPips.com
U.S. Existing Homes sales increased for the second month in a row in May 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 2.4 percent
Economic forecasts were predicting an increase of 3.0 percent to a 4.82 million unit sales pace for the month. On an annual basis, May’s existing-homes sales are 3.6 percent lower than the May 2008 sales pace of 4.95 million units. The median sales price for existing homes was $173,000 in May while total housing inventory showed a decrease of 3.5 percent in the month to a total of 3.80 million homes available.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented on May’s increase saying, “Historically low mortgage interest rates clearly drew buyers into the market, and housing remains very affordable even with a recent uptick in rates.” Yun furthered, “First-time buyers also are being drawn off the sidelines by the $8,000 tax credit, which is helping to absorb inventory.”
US Dollar mixed in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been mixed today in forex trading against the other major currencies since the start of the day at 00:00GMT. The American currency has been trading lower versus most of the major currencies but is paring losses in the morning of the U.S. trading session.
The euro had advanced sharply this morning versus the dollar before cooling off some as the EUR/USD has gained from its 1.3862 opening at 00:00 GMT to trading at 1.3995 in the U.S. trading session at 10:46am EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound has declined against the USD as the GBP/USD has fallen from its 1.6322 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.6289 usd per gbp. The dollar has advanced slightly versus the Japanese yen and trades at 95.34 after opening at the day at the 95.26 exchange rate.
The dollar has gained versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.1559 after opening the day at 1.1537.
The dollar has declined against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0737 after opening at 1.0860 today while the dollar has also been weaker against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.7860 after a 0.7843 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.6328 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.6279.
EUR/USD Chart – The Euro advancing sharply today versus the US dollar in forex trading and increased for eight straight hourly periods before slowing down.
