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Published on 04-23-2015 04:47 PM
Weak PMI reports out of Europe, disappointing March new home sales numbers and caution ahead of the Eurogroup meeting on Friday limited equities earlier today. But after Europe closed, with the CAC and DAX near session lows, things have improved a bit. Note that the Nasdaq is testing all-time highs this morning. Big gains in energy names on rising crude prices are leading things higher. As of writing, the DJIA is up 0.16%, the S&P500 is flat and the Nasdaq is up 0.23%.
Unlike the big improvement in yesterday's March existing home sales, today's March new home sales data was disappointing. Existing home sales had bounced higher off the weather-impacted February numbers, but the March new home sales declined more than 10% from February's total. Analysts highlight that the series is highly erratic and subject to big revisions, but the XHB is off 1.5% in any case. A more significant factor for housing names this morning is Pulte Homes, which widely missed earnings and revenue targets, with performance weighed down with construction delays. PHM is off more than 8%, while other major homebuilders are down 3-4%. In other data, Markit's preliminary PMI index for April fell to 54.2 in April from 55.7 in March.
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