SIGNS OF US REVIVAL
US stocks rallied on the data, with the Dow Jones industrial average ending 89.84 points higher at 7,749.81 and the S&P 500 closing up 7.76 at 813.88.
The upbeat economic reports and tepid demand in a record-large auction of five-year US Treasury notes sent benchmark government bond yields, which move inversely to prices, rising to their highest in a week.
Recent data, including retail sales and housing, have pointed to some signs of a moderation in the pace of the 15 month housing-led recession.
New durable goods orders excluding transportation rose 3.9 per cent in February, the largest gain since August 2005, the Commerce Department said. Orders for machinery soared 13.5 per cent in February, the biggest increase since March 2004.
In a separate report the Commerce Department said sales of newly built U.S. homes rose 4.7 per cent to a 337,000 annual pace, the fastest increase since last April, from 322,000 in January.
Despite the increase, February sales were the second lowest ever after the drop in January to the slowest pace in records going back to 1963, the department said. Economists, who had forecast another decline in sales, were still encouraged.
Sales of previously owned homes rose 5.1 per cent in February, while housing starts soared 22.2 per cent that month.
Stabilising the housing market, the main trigger of the current economic slump, is crucial for the economy’s recovery.
The median sales price in February fell a record 18.1 per cent to US$200,900 from a year earlier, the department said.
The inventory of homes available for sale in February was at 330,000, the smallest since June 2002. The February sales pace left the supply of homes available for sale at 12.2 month’s worth. — REUTERS
im glad the economy is getting better (:
so it means more people will make investments, thus this depicts that more people will invests in shares and properties. either ways , properties definitely hold a better stability .
therefore it means more people will buy houses and it means the economys wealth will circulate more and that i will have more appointments to make and that my manager will have more money to make AND that i might have a pay rise which also means , i might consider being a part time agent 3 years later (: !!
so much for my “property development and facilities management (: hahas. xp.
anyway , currently , the recession doesn’t affect Singapore alot.. i can see from restaurants that they are quite filled. and that the recession doesn’t really affect the government and educational sector.. also , recently im working on a project – a condo – Q****z. I think it’s rather obvious already , the name of the condo.. in that condo , there more than 30 units who wants to sell or have sold their condo.. and all these people i worked on, have at least two properties in singapore. haha. so much for “recession!” haha. the more appalling issue is that the TOP hasn’t even started , yet some 10 units have already sold it. it actually goes to show that actually our locals have quite a sum of savings for investments..
on a side note , i wanna thank God for my manager for giving me chances over and over again, to learn and excel in this sector.
-peok.the.STUNNINGLY.gorgeous. xp
