U.S. Home Sales in June Plunges 8%, Weekly Jobless Claims Drop

Nichole Harper
24 Jul, 2014
New York City

Stocks on Wall Street trended higher after June new home sales plunged 8% but weekly jobless claims dropped to a low not seen in last nine years. General Motors issued a new round of recalls. Facebook soared on record quarterly sales.

[R]New York – Stocks on Wall Street trended higher after June new home sales plunged 8% but weekly jobless claims dropped to a low not seen in last nine years. General Motors issued a new round of recalls. Facebook soared on record quarterly sales.[/R]

Stocks on Wall Street gained after a private manufacturing survey showed stronger than expected increase in manufacturing sector growth and U.S. new home sales declined and weekly jobless claims dropped a to a nearly 9-year low.

New home sales declined 8.1% in June to a seasonally adjusted rate of 406,000 from the revised 442,000 in May, the Commerce Department said today. The home sales in May were lowered from the previous estimate of 504,000.

The median sales prices increased 5.3% from a year ago month to $273,500

Sales were weaker than expected and housing market remains a drag on the broader economy but sales may rebound as average mortgage rate in June declined to 4.13% from 4.53% at the beginning of the year.

In addition, weekly jobless claims at the end of last week declined 19,000 to 284,000 and reached to an 81/2- year low.

S&P 500 index increased 3.55 to 1,990.64 and the Nasdaq Composite Index increased 9.21 to 4,483.07.

European Markets

Markets across Europe traded volatile after European leaders weighed additional sanctions on Russia and the governing coalition in Ukraine collapsed.

In London trading, FTSE 100 index rose 0.1% or 10.89 to 6,809.04 and in Frankfurt the DAX index gained 0.2% or 17.27 to 9,770.83.

In Paris, CAC 40 index increased 0.5% or 22.16 to 4,398.48.

On the corporate front, the discount airline EasyJet said revenue climbed 9% to £1.2 billion and U.K. based Howden Joinery said profit double to £52 million.

Tools and accessories retailer, Kingfisher plunged after sales declined but the Switzerland based Logitech said first-quarter net surged.

Nokia net swung to profit of €2.51 billion after the company booked most of the proceeds from the sale to Microsoft.

Asian Markets

Stocks in Tokyo edged lower and then yen was in focus after Japan reported a decline in June trade deficit. The deficit was still larger than expected and soared to a record high in the first-six months.

Market indexes in Tokyo drifted lower for the second day in a row and SoftBank declined 2% and investors focused on earnings announcements.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 44.14 or 0.3% to 15,284.42 and the broader Topix index fell 2.53 to 1,269.86.

The yen closed at 101.41 against one U.S. dollar.

In Mumbai trading, the Sensex Index jumped 124.52 or 0.5% to close at 26,271.853 The CNX Nifty increased 34.85 to 7,830.60.