By CountingPips.com
Economic news out of the U.S. today showed that durable goods orders declined in March after rebounding in February. Durable goods orders in the United States fell 0.8 percent in March to a total of $161.2 billion according to news released by the 
U.S. Commerce Department today. Durable goods sales rebounded in February by a revised 2.1 percent after falling for six straight months. Today’s data beat market forecasts that had been expecting that durable goods orders would decrease by approximately 1.5 percent for the month.
New orders for durable goods excluding transportation fell by 0.6 percent in March following a revised increase of 2.0 percent in February. Market forecasts were predicting a decrease of 1.3 percent in durable goods minus transportation.
Shipments of durable goods decreased in March by 1.7 percent and fell for the eighth straight month. Unfilled orders decreased 1.1 percent in the month while durable good inventories decreased by 1.4 percent and have now declined for three straight months. March nondefense orders for new goods rose by 1.9 percent while defense orders for capital goods decreased by 14.4 percent.
U.S. New Home Sales edge down in March.
New Home Sales in the United States dipped in the month of March according to data released by the Department of Commerce today. Purchases of new single family homes fell to an annual rate of 356,000 in March, a 0.6 percent decline following February’s 8.2 percent increase in sales. March’s annual rate of new homes sold is 30.6 percent lower than the March 2008 level.
March’s results were worse than market forecasts which were expecting no change in sales for the month but surpassed forecasts expecting an annual rate of 337,000 new homes sold. The median sales price of new homes in March fell by 12 percent on an annual basis to $201,400 while the average sales price was $258,000.
US Dollar declines in forex trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been under pressure in forex trading today against the major currencies. The dollar has declined versus the euro, Australian dollar, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar, British pound, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc.
The euro has advanced versus the USD as the EUR/USD trades at 1.3247 in the afternoon of the US trading session at 2:52pm EST after opening the day at 1.3147 according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound has increased just slightly today versus the American currency as the GBP/USD has gained from 1.4667 to trading at 1.4674 dollars per pound. The dollar has fallen against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has declined from its 97.36 opening to trading at 97.06.
The dollar has declined against the Canadian dollar after opening at 1.2241 earlier today to trading at 1.2089 later. Meanwhile, the USD has also declined against the Swiss franc from 1.1506 to trading at 1.1394.
The Australian dollar has gained ground versus the USD as the AUD/USD trades at 0.7216 after opening today at 0.7145 while the New Zealand dollar has also climbed versus the USD and the NZD/USD trades at 0.5716 after opening the day’s trading at 0.5635.
USD/CAD Chart – The US Dollar falling sharply today versus the Canadian Dollar in Forex Trading action. The USD/CAD is on its way to declining for the second straight day and ending lower for the week.
