Good news from the US: annualized sales of existing homes rose 4.9% to 4.89 million. The annual level of sales of existing homes was expected to stand at 4.74 million in the month of May after standing at 4.65 million in April (before revisions, now revised to 4.66 million). The Fed has recently expressed some worries about the improvement in the US housing sector.
Towards the release, EUR/USD was battling with 1.3585, GBP/USD held onto 1.70 and USD/JPY traded under 102. The greenback is somewhat stronger– more coming —
Inventory stands at 5.6 months and the media price is at 213.4K, 5.1% higher than this time last year. Good news also comes from the level of distressed sales: only 11% of total sales.
Sales of homes trigger wider economic activity and therefore serve as an important indicator for the economy. Most sales are for existing (second hand) homes. Nevertheless, tomorrow’s publication of new home sales is also of importance due to the fact that new homes trigger even wider economic activity related to infrastructure.
Earlier, Markit’s flash Manufacturing PMI for June exceeded expectations by rising from 56.4 to 57.5 points, above 56.1 expected.
The Aussie  dollar has been today’s star of the show, with a meaningful conquest of 0.94. The clear break higher sent the pair as high as 0.9444 before it began dropping towards the release of this indicator.
