By CountingPips.com
New Home Sales in the United States gained by more than expected in the month of June according to data released by the Department of Commerce today. Purchases of new single family homes rose to an annual rate of 384,000 in June, an 11.0 percent advance following 
May’s 2.4 percent revised increase in sales. June’s annual rate of new homes sold, despite the increase, was still 21.3 percent lower than the June 2008 sales level. The rise in new homes sold was the third straight monthly gain and the 11.0 percent rise marked the largest monthly gain in almost a decade.
June’s results more than tripled the market forecasts which were expecting a 3.0 percent increase in sales for the month to an annual rate of 355,000 new homes sold.
Contributing heavily to the sales rise for June was a 43 percent monthly gain in the Midwest while sales of new homes in the West advanced by 23 percent. The median sales price of new homes in June decreased to $206,200 from $219,000 in May while the average sales price was about unchanged from May to $276,900.
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 the euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and New Zealand dollar while trading lower against the British pound, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar.
The euro has declined slightly versus the dollar so far today as the EUR/USD has fallen from its 1.4232 opening at 00:00 GMT to trading at 1.4221 in the U.S. trading session at 1:49pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The British pound has advanced against the USD as the GBP/USD has gone from its 1.6454 opening exchange rate to trading at 1.6491 usd per gbp. The dollar has advanced versus the Japanese yen and trades at 95.18 after opening at the day at the 94.85 exchange rate.
The dollar has dipped slightly versus the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.0829 after opening the day at 1.0843.
The dollar has increased against the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF trades at 1.0716 after opening at 1.00703 today while the dollar has been slightly weaker against the Australian dollar and slightly stronger versus the New Zealand dollar. The AUD/USD trades at 0.8216 after a 0.8208 opening while the NZD/USD trades at 0.6553 today after opening at the exchange rate of 0.6577.
USD/JPY Chart – The US Dollar advancing today versus the Japanese Yen in forex trading as the USD/JPY increased to its highest exchange rate since July 7th today.
