By CountingPips.com
New Home Sales in the United States decreased more than expected for the month of December according to data released by the Department of Commerce today. Purchases of new single family homes fell to an annual rate of 342,000 in December for a 7.6 percent decline from November. Revised data showed that new home sales decreased in November by 9.3 percent to an annual rate of 370,000 homes. On an annual basis, December’s rate of new homes sold was 8.6 percent lower than the December 2008 level.
December’s results failed to match market forecasts which were expecting a 3.0 percent increase in sales for an annual rate of 374,000 new homes sold.
Total new home sales for all of 2009 were estimated to number 374,000 homes, marking a record low annual sales level. This is 22.9 percent under the 2008 total of 485,000 new homes sold.
Contributing to the decrease in December was a 41.1 percent drop in new homes sold in the the Midwest while the South registered a 7.3 percent decline in sales. Sales in the Northeast surged by 42.9 percent while the West saw an increase by 5.2 percent from November to December.
US Dollar mixed in Forex Trading.
The U.S. dollar has been mixed in forex trading today against the other major currencies after the new home sales report and before the Federal Reserve’s interest rate announcement later today.
The dollar has gained today versus the euro, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar while falling against the Japanese yen and the British pound at 11:15 pm EST according to currency data by Oanda.
The U.S. stock markets have been mixed so far today with the Dow Jones falling by over 15 points, the Nasdaq increasing over 2 points and the S&P 500 down by just under 1 point at time of writing. Oil has edged down by $0.10 to $74.61 while gold is down by $6.90 to trade at the $1,091.00 per ounce level.
EUR/USD 1H Chart – The Euro continuing its decrease versus the US Dollar today in forex trading. The EUR/USD has fallen to trading under the 1.4040 level today. This pair has maintained its current downtrend since touching its January highpoint on January 13th at 1.4579.
