By CountingPips.com
Economic news out of the U.S. today showed that new orders for durable goods increased for the third month in a row while new home sales declined to a new low in February. Durable goods orders in the United States rose by 0.5 percent in February to a total of $178.1 billion following January’s revised 3.9 percent gain, according to the report released by the U.S. Commerce Department today. February’s advance marked the third consecutive month of increases after October and November registered declines.
Market forecasts had been expecting that durable goods orders would increase by approximately 0.6 percent for the month. Durable goods are products manufactured in the U.S. and considered to last more than three years.
New orders for durable goods excluding transportation increased by 0.9 percent in February following a revised decrease of 0.9 percent in January. This data was better than the market forecasts which were predicting an increase of 0.6 percent for durables minus transportation for the month.
Home Sales fall to new low
New Home Sales in the United States decreased more than expected for the month of February, according to data released by the Department of Commerce today. Purchases of new single family homes fell to an annual rate of 308,000 in February for a 2.2 percent decline from January. This marked the fourth straight month of declines and brings new home sales to the lowest level on record. Revised data showed that new home sales decreased in January by 8.7 percent to an annual rate of 315,000 homes.
On an annual basis, February’s rate of new homes sold was 13.0 percent lower than the February 2009 level. Today’s sales data failed to match market forecasts which were expecting a 1.9 percent increase in sales for an annual rate of 315,000 new homes sold.
Contributing to the decrease in February was a 20 percent drop in new homes sold in the the Northeast while the Midwest registered a 18 percent decline in sales. Sales in the South fell by almost 5 percent while the West saw an increase by 21 percent from January to February.
FOREX: US Dollar jumps higher
The U.S. dollar has been trading higher in the forex markets today against the other major currencies. The dollar has advanced today versus the euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, British pound, Canadian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar, according to currency data by Oanda.
The euro has fallen versus the dollar to under the 1.3350 exchange rate today as Portugal’s credit rating downgrade and Greece’s debt situation has weighed heavily on the European common currency. The EUR/USD is down by approximately 150 pips today.
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, declined today with the Dow Jones following by approximately 53 points, the Nasdaq decreasing over 16 points and the S&P 500 down by almost 7 points. Oil has fallen by $1.44 to $80.47 while gold has been unchanged at the $1,103.50 per ounce level.
USD/JPY 1-Hour Chart – The US Dollar surging higher and breaking out of its recent trading range versus the Japanese Yen today. The USD/JPY rose above the 92.00 level for the first time since February 19th and is up by over 150 pips today.
