According to the recent U.S. pending homes sales report, which was published today, the real estate market has changed direction as pending home sales edged down during February 2012; alternatively the February 2012 U.S. pending home sales index was still well above the February 2011 index.
The U.S. pending home sales index edged down by 0.5% in February 2012 compared with the January 2012 index, from 97 to 96.5. The February 2012 index was 9.2 percent above the February 2011 index, which stood back then at 88.4.
This index is a forward looking indicator and considers only the contracts signed and not closing.
This index might suggest that the growth in the U.S. pending home sales has slowed down in February, despite the recent rise in this index during January. This news of a slight decrease in pending home sales, might be among the factors to trade down the U.S. dollar during today’s trading. Currently the US dollar is traded slightly up against the Euro:
Current Nymex crude oil price, short term futures (April 2012 delivery) is traded up by 0.15%, at $107.03 per barrel as of 21:30*.
Current gold price, short term futures (April 2012 delivery) is traded at $ 1,688.2 per t oz. a $23.3 increase or 1.4%, as of 21:30*.
Euros to USD is currently traded down at 1.3356 a 0.02% decrease as of 21:30*.
(* GMT)
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