Economic news out of the U.S. today was better than expected as durable goods orders and new home sales data both increased more than forecasted for the month of February.
Durable goods orders increased by 3.4 percent in February according to the report released by the U.S. Commerce Department. New orders for durables increased by $5.5 billion to a total of $169.6 billion for the month. Durable 
goods are products manufactured in the U.S. and generally considered to last more than three years.
February’s gain follows up a revised decrease of 7.3 percent in January and handily surpassed market expectations which had forecasted that orders would drop by 2.5 percent for the month.
New orders for durable goods, excluding transportation, gained by 3.9 percent in February beating market expectations that predicted a decrease of 2.0 percent.
New Home Sales in the U.S. also beat market expectations today and surpassed January’s revised new home sales total. The new home sales data, released by the Department of Commerce, rose by 4.7 percent in February for an annual rate of 337,000 sales following January’s revised total of 322,000 sales.
Market forecasts had expected that new home sales would decrease by 2.8 percent for a total of approximately 300,000 annual sales.
February’s annual sales rate when compared to February 2008, despite the monthly gain, is down by 41.1 percent. The median sales price of new homes equaled $200,900 in February which is a decrease from a median sales price of $206,800 in January. The average sales price came in at $251,000 for February which is an increase from January’s average price of $239,100.
US Dollar lower in Forex Trading so far today.
The U.S. dollar has been mostly lower in forex trading against the other major currencies today as the dollar has gained versus the British pound while falling against the euro, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and the Canadian dollar.
The euro has advanced versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has gained from its 1.3486 opening(00:00 GMT) to trading at 1.3599 in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session at 4:11pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound fell today as the GBP/USD declined from its 1.4685 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.4558 usd per gbp. The dollar has declined versus the Japanese yen and trading at 97.35 after opening at the day at the 97.75 exchange rate.
The dollar has fallen slightly today versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.2291 after opening the day at 1.2301.
The dollar has fallen against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.1192 after opening at 1.1299 today while the dollar has also been weaker against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades only slightly higher at 0.6979 after a 0.6975 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.5655 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.5611.
USD/CHF Chart – The dollar falling sharply against the Swiss franc in forex trading today(30min chart).
