By CountingPips.com
The U.S. dollar has been mixed in forex trading today against most of the major currencies while the U.S. stock markets have rebounded from a down day on Tuesday. The dollar has been gaining ground today versus the Japanese yen while also making slight gains against the euro, British pound and the Swiss franc. The dollar has fallen against the Canadian 
dollar and has traded virtually unchanged against the Australian and New Zealand dollars compared to the day’s opening exchange rates.
The US stock markets, meanwhile, are having a positive session today with the Dow Jones gaining by over a 100 points, the Nasdaq increasing approximately 35 points and the S&P 500 up by over 15 points at time of writing. Oil has edged higher by $0.46 to trade at the $73.04 per barrel level while gold has declined by $4.50 to level at $1,220.70 per ounce.
Economic data out of the U.S. showed that pending homes sales rose by more than expected and for the third straight month in April, according to the monthly report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) today. The NAR report showed that pending home sales contracts signed by buyers grew by 6.0 percent in April following March’s 7.1 percent revised increase and February’s 8.3 percent advance. On an annual basis, pending home sales were 22.4 percent higher than the April 2009 sales level.
Helping to boost the housing sales data through April was the U.S. government tax credit that was set to expire at the end of April and provided tax incentives for certain buyers up to $8,000. The month’s sales increase was better than market forecasts that were expecting an increase of approximately 5.0 percent for the month.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented on the tax boost saying, “There were concerns that only a small pool of buyers were left to take advantage of the tax credit extension. But evidently the tax stimulus, combined with improved consumer confidence and low mortgage interest rates, are contributing to surging sales.” Yun also expressed hope for a housing market recovery stating, “The housing market has to get back on its own feet and now appears to be in a good position to return to sustainable levels even without government stimulus, provided the economy continues to add jobs”.
The pending home sales index in the Northeast increased by 29.5 percent in April while the Midwest saw a gain by 4.1 percent. Sales in the West rose by 7.5 percent while sales in the South decreased by 0.6 percent for the month.
On an annual basis, all four areas were above the April 2009 sales level with the Northeast showing an annual gain of 24.5 percent, the Midwest showing a 17.9 percent annual rise, the South showing a 31.3 percent increase and the West showing a 12.0 percent annual advancement.
