The Dow reached a new 18-month high yesterday thanks to a better-than-expected existing home sales data report.
Yesterday, US stocks climbed to a new 18-month high on better-than expected existing home sales data. Despite a report released by the National Association of Realtors showing that home resales fell in February by 0.6%, this number bested economists’ expectations of a 2% decline. According to Andrea Kramer of Schaeffer’s Investment Research, “while sales of previously owned homes are now at their lowest level in eight months, today’s data left the Street optimistic.”
As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 102.94 points (an increase of 1%) yesterday to end at a 17-month high of 10888.83. Spearheaded by gains to Caterpillar (4.1%), General Electric (1.4%), AK Steel Holding (2.8%), Nucor (3.7%) and other major industrial and economically sensitive companies, Tuesday’s gain represented the biggest gain for a single session since the 122-point Dow surge when the jobs report was released on March 5th.
It will be interesting to see how the Street reacts to today’s report of an unexpected drop in new home sales in February. Despite near record low current mortgage rates and greatly depressed home values, new home sales declined by 2.2% in February as a result of severe winter weather and steeply discounted foreclosed homes.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a full report and update on today’s market activity. In the meantime, we at Total Mortgage Services would love to read your thoughts on the state of the economy and the housing market. Join the conversation below!
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