By CountingPips.com
Economic news out of the U.S. today showed that new orders for durable goods and new homes sales increased by more than expected in the month of April. Durable goods orders in the United States rose by 2.9 percent in April to a total of $193.9 billion following a flat change in March, according to the report released by the U.S. Commerce Department today. April’s advance marked the fourth increase out of the last five months.
Market forecasts had been expecting that durable goods orders would increase by approximately 1.3 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 decreased by 1.0 percent in April following a revised increase of 4.8 percent in March. This data was worse than the market forecasts which were predicting an increase of 0.5 percent for durables minus transportation for the month.
Home Sales jump in April
New Home Sales jumped in the month of April as home buyers took advantage of the last month of an $8,000 tax credit, according to data released by the Department of Commerce today. Purchases of new single family homes rose to an annual rate of 504,000 in April for a 14.8 percent increase from March. Revised data showed that new home sales increased in March by 29.9 percent to an annual rate of 439,000 homes.
On an annual basis, February’s rate of new homes sold was 47.8 percent higher than the April 2009 level. Today’s sales data beat the market forecasts which were expecting a 3.4 percent increase in sales for an annual rate of 425,000 new homes sold.
Contributors to the increase were the presence of low mortgage rates and buyers taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers while repeat buyers were also eligible for up to $6,500 in credits. The tax credit specified that buyers were to enter into a purchase contract by April 30th to be eligible.
FOREX: US Dollar mixed in Fx Trading today
The U.S. dollar has been mixed in the forex markets today against the other major currencies. The dollar has advanced today versus the euro, Swiss franc and New Zealand dollar while falling against the British pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and the Japanese Yen, according to currency data by Oanda in the afternoon of the U.S. trading 
session.
The euro has fallen versus the dollar to trade under the 1.2200 exchange rate today and could be on its way to establishing a fresh 4-year low reached last week at 1.2143. The EUR/USD is down by over 100 pips today and well over 300 pips for the week.
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, have increased today with the Dow Jones rising by approximately 30 points, the Nasdaq increasing over 10 points and the S&P 500 up by almost 6 points at time of writing. Oil has gained by $2.62 to $71.37 per barrel while gold has advanced by $15.30 to trade at the $1,197.80 per ounce level.
