Pending Home Sales (June)

Daily Forex Fundamentals | Written by The LFB-Forex.com | Aug 07 08 14:28 GMT |

Actual 5.3%, Expected -1.0%, Previous -4.9% (Revised down from 4.7%)

Release Explanation: The index measures housing contract activity. It is based on signed real estate contracts for existing single-family homes, condos and co-ops. Important since the housing market is included in most economic forecasts. Retail Sales, CPI, and PCE in the US. A happy householder will usually lead to a strong economic outlook. A miss here, either way, and the Markets gets to see the real confidence of the US consumer. There is a very strong impact on the sentiment towards the US Dollar from this report.

Trade Desk Thoughts: At this point, any good news on housing will come as a relief despite the fact that May was revised down slightly. June pending home sales is at the highest level since October 2007. Economists consider this index to be a leading indicator, because it is based on contract signings that lead to closing one to two months in the future.

Forex Technical Reaction: The dollar strengthened against the euro after the ECB press conference and continued to do so after the pending home sales index was released. Surprisingly, the Yen has not appreciated against the dollar even as equity markets remain in negative territory on the day.

The LFB-Forex.com