By CountingPips.com
U.S. Existing Homes sales decreased unexpectedly after rising for four months in a row 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 declined by 2.7 percent in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.10 million units. The August data 
follows a robust 7.2 percent gain in July which put existing home sales at four straight monthly gains for the first time since June 2004 and marked the largest monthly rise in ten years.
The sales decline surprised economic forecasts that were predicting an approximate increase of 2.1 percent to a 5.35 million unit sales pace. On an annual basis, August’s existing-homes sales are 3.4 percent higher than the August 2008 sales pace while the national median price registered $177,700 in August which is 12.5 percent below the August 2008 level.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented on the housing market saying, “Home sales retrenched from a very strong improvement in July but continue to be much higher than before the stimulus. The first-time buyer tax credit is having the intended impact of bringing buyers into the market, allowing them to take advantage of very favorable affordability conditions.”
The Midwest region led the sales decline in August with a 6.6 percent decrease while the South existing home sales fell by 3.1 percent and the West saw a 2.7 percent sales decline. The Northeast existing home sales fell by 2.2 percent for the month.
Weekly U.S. jobless claims were out today and declined in the week that ended on September 19th according to the U.S. Labor Department. New claims fell by 21,000 to a 530,000 total. The 4-week moving average decreased by 11,000 to 553,500 workers. This week’s data was better than a forecasted 550,000 new claims that was expected.
Continuing claims declined by 123,000 to 6,138,000 for the week ending on September 12th. The 4-week moving average fell by 1,250 workers to a total of 6,187,250 workers unemployed.
US Dollar is stronger in Forex Trading as Stocks, Oil and Gold fall.
The U.S. dollar has traded higher today against the other major currencies in the spot forex market. The dollar has gained versus the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and New Zealand dollar according to currency data by Oanda at 3:52 pm EDT.
The US stock markets declined today with the Dow falling by approximately 41 points, the Nasdaq decreasing almost 24 points and the S&P 500 down by 10 points. Oil fell by almost $3 to $66.04 while gold lost $15.50 to fall under the $1000 per ounce level at $997.50.
USD/CAD Hourly Chart – The US Dollar advancing today versus the Canadian Dollar for the second day in a row and touched above the 1.0900 threshold for the first time in 10 days.
