Pending home sales for February climbed 5.5%, according to the National Association of Realtors. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were looking for a 2.4% gain.
The jump is the largest since July 2010.Pending home sales had dropped 2.8% in January.
Pending home sales tend to pick up with the prospect of warmer weather, but even if the pickup is expected, it’s still a sign of strength in the U.S. economy.
At least that’s how the dollar market is taking the news. The dollar has rallied with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index up 0.2% this morning. Helping the dollar advance against that basket of currencies has been weakness in the pound and the euro as U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May delivered the letter today that formally begins the 2-year process of that country’s exit from the European Union.
There’s no real news from the Federal Reserve this morning, but a gaggle of Fed officials have affirmed the central bank’s plan to raise interest rates two more times in 2017.
The take away from this data is that despite the turmoil in Washington and the uncertainties surrounding the Trump administration agenda on tax cuts and infrastructure spending, the U.S.economy remains strong enough to support this market.
