By CountingPips.com
U.S. Existing Homes sales increased for the third month in a row in June according to the monthly report produced by the National Association of Realtors. The NAR report showed that existing-home sales including single family homes, co-ops and townhouses increased 3.6 percent in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units. The June data put existing home sales at three straight monthly gains for the first time since 2004. May’s sales data was revised lower to show a 1.3 percent increase after an initial report of a 2.4 percent increase.
The June sales pace surpassed economic forecasts that were predicting an approximate increase of 1.5 percent to a 4.84 million unit sales pace for the month. On an annual basis, June’s existing-homes sales are 0.2 percent lower than the June 2008 sales pace of 4.90 million units. The median sales price for existing homes increased from May to $181,800 in June while the total housing inventory showed a decrease of 0.7 percent in the month to a total of 3.82 million homes available.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented on June’s increase saying, “The increase in existing-home sales occurred in all major regions of the country,” and that, “We expect a gradual uptrend in sales to continue due to tax credit incentives and historically high affordability conditions.”
Weekly Jobless Claims rise.
A government release by the U.S. Labor Department showed that weekly U.S. jobless claims increased in the week that ended on July 18th. New jobless claims grew to a total of 554,000 unemployed workers, an increase over the prior week by 30,000 workers. A 4-week moving average of unemployed workers fell by 19,000 from the prior week to a total of 566,000.
Meanwhile, workers seeking continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending July 11th declined by 88,000 workers to a total of 6,225,000 unemployed workers. A four week moving average of continuing claims saw a decrease by 132,500 to 6,541,500.
US Dollar mixed in Forex Trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been mixed today in forex trading against the other major currencies since the start of the day at 00:00GMT. The American currency has been trading higher versus most of the major currencies but lower versus the Canadian dollar and British pound sterling.
The euro has fallen versus the dollar today as the EUR/USD has dipped from its 1.4232 opening at 00:00 GMT to trading at 1.4195 in the U.S. trading session at 2:37pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound has advanced against the USD as the GBP/USD has gone from its 1.6478 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.6501 usd per gbp. The dollar has advanced versus the Japanese yen and trades at 95.13 after opening at the day at the 94.18 exchange rate.
The dollar has continued to fall versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.0866 after opening the day at 1.0993.
The dollar has gained against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0726 after opening at 1.0656 today while the dollar has also been stronger against the Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.8161 after a 0.8183 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.6566 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.6599.
USD/JPY Chart – The US Dollar advancing today versus the Japanese Yen in forex trading and reaching above the 95.00 exchange rate after falling to a low of 93.09 yesterday.
