By CountingPips.com
U.S. existing-homes sales data rebounded in March after declining in February, according to the monthly report produced by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The NAR report showed that existing-home sales including single family homes, co-ops and townhouses rose by 3.7 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.10 million units. February’s existing-homes sales data had decreased by a revised 8.9 percent to a 4.92 million home rate.
On an annual basis, March’s existing-home sales is lower by 6.3 percent than the March 2010 level.
Today’s data beat market expectations as forecasters had predicted the
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented in the report about the rebound in sales figures, “Existing-home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we’re clearly on a recovery path. With rising jobs and excellent affordability conditions, we project moderate improvements into 2012, but not every month will show a gain – primarily because some buyers are finding it too difficult to obtain a mortgage.”
Existing-home sales in the Northeast increased by 3.9 percent in March while the Midwest sales rose by 1.0 percent. The West saw its existing-home sales edge lower by 0.8 percent while sales advanced by 8.2 percent for the month in the South.
On an annual basis, the Northeast sales were lower than the March 2010 level by 12.1 percent with the South (-1.0 %), West (-3.1 %) and Midwest (-13.1%) all showing lower levels on an annual basis.
FOREX: US Dollar lower across the board. Stocks, Commodities higher
The U.S. dollar has been on the decline in the forex markets today while US stocks have traded higher as investor risk sentiment has been on the rise in the U.S. trading session today. The dollar has decreased lower today versus the euro, Swiss franc, British pound sterling, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Canadian dollar, according to currency data by Oanda.
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, have had a positive trading session today on positive earnings news. The Dow Jones closed up by over 186 points, the Nasdaq rose by over 57 points and the S&P 500 increased by over 17 points.
In commodities, oil has increased by over $3.00 to the $111.34 per barrel level while gold has been higher by $5.80 to settle at the $1,500.30 per ounce level.
USD/CHF Hourly Chart – The US Dollar falling to a new low against the Swiss franc today in forex market trading. The USD/CHF has touched an intraday bottom at 0.8878 today.
