US Existing Home Sales rise 5.5% in September. Dollar, Yen rise on turbulent day in Forex | CountingPips Forex Blog

October 24, 2008 - Forex Economic News

US Existing Home Sales rise 5.5% in September. Dollar, Yen rise on turbulent day.

U.S. Existing Homes sales increased more than expected for the month of September 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 5.5 percent in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.18 million units. USD, Yen gain in Forex Markets. Economic forecasts were predicting an increase of 0.8 percent for the month to 4.95 million units sold following a 2.2 percent decrease in August. September's existing-homes sales, on an annual basis, have increased by 1.4 percent above September 2007's sales pace of 5.11 million units. The median sales price for existing homes in September registered $191,600 which is 9.0 percent less than September 2007's median price of $222,700 and total housing inventory decreased in September by 1.6 percent to a total of 4.27 million homes.

NAR President Richard F. Gaylord commented on September's increase in home sales, "This is the first time since November 2005 that home sales have been above year-ago levels,” he said. “Credit tightened at the end of September, but the improvement demonstrates that buyers who’ve been on the sidelines want to get into the market to make a long-term investment in their future."

Forex Market - The Yen and U.S. Dollar continue to climb amid turbulent times.

Forex trading today saw the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen gain as stock markets around the world experienced major selloffs and traders exited risky positions. Top Japanese companies reported lower earnings early today and the U.K. reported its first contraction in quarterly GDP since 1992 which helped to spur the selloffs. Around the world, the Japanese Nikkei fell over 9 percent while stock exchanges in London, France and Germany all dropped over 5 percent. The U.S. Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 3 percent while the Nasdaq dropped 3.9 percent and the S&P 500 fell 3.5 percent.

The U.S. dollar and Japanese yen continued to thrive amid the financial market turbulence against the other major currencies as the yen advanced against all of the other majors today and the dollar advanced against all the majors today except the yen and Swiss franc. On a weekly basis, the yen has gained against all the majors this week while the dollar has advanced for the week against all the majors except the yen. Most notably, the dollar has made consistent and considerable strides against the Canadian loonie as the dollar has advanced for four straight weeks and has gone from an exchange rate of approximately 1.0337 to 1.2775 in that time frame.

USD/CAD Chart - The US Dollar has advanced verses the Canadian Loonie for four straight weeks and has gained over 2,000 pips in the process(Weekly Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: existing home sales, forex market, market turmoil

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