Stocks on Wall Street clawed their back from a four-day losing streak even as investors absorbed yet more bad news on the US housing and consumer sales fronts.New-home buying fell to a record low in July with sales decreasing 12.4% to a seasonally-adjuste
Stocks on Wall Street clawed their back from a four-day losing streak even as investors absorbed yet more bad news on the US housing and consumer sales fronts.
New-home buying fell to a record low in July with sales decreasing 12.4% to a seasonally-adjusted 276,000, the lowest level since at least 1963. Economists had predicted a modest gain to 333,000. Home prices also declined to the lowest level since 2003.
Manufactured durable goods sales were also weaker than expected, rising just 0.3% in July against expectations of a 2.8% gain.
After being in the red for most of the session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 19.61 points, or 0.2%, up at 10,060.06. The measure bobbed above and below the 10,000 mark throughout the day.
The S&P 500 index rose 0.3% to 1055.33, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8% to 2141.54.
Other markets: Europe, Asia down
European stocks suffered more losses as weak US housing data stoked growing doubts about the global recovery. Still, stocks managed to close off their lows as US markets showed resilience.
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The Stoxx Europe 600 index closed down 0.8% at 247.54. The UK's FTSE 100 index fell 0.9% to 5109.40, France's CAC-40 index closed down 1.2% at 3450.19 and Germany's DAX slipped 0.6% to 5899.50.
Most Asian stock markets declined, with Japanese stocks tumbling for a fourth day to end at a 16-month low as the yen remained strong.
The Nikkei Stock Average, which dropped below the psychologically important 9000-point level and also entered the bearish market territory on Tuesday, slid a further 1.7% to finish at 8845.39 – a closing level it hasn't seen since April 2009.
Hong Kong, Australia and Korea fell for the fourth day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index eased 0.1% to 20,634.98, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 1.4% to close at 4320.14 and Korea's Kospi shed 1.5% to 1734.79.
China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 2% to 2596.58 and Taiwan's Taiex skidded 2.6% to 7736.98, while Singapore’s Straits Times went against the trend, rising 0.1% to 2926.55,
Commodities: Oil steady, gold up
Crude futures remained mostly flat, shrugging off a surprise increase in stockpiles of US oil and fuel products. Crude stockpiles rose 4.1 million barrels last week, surprising analysts who had expected a modest decline. Petrol and distillates inventories also rose.
Light, sweet crude for October delivery dropped sharply on the report, falling below $US71 a gallon, though prices later recovered. The October delivery contract was down 10USc to $US71.53 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange was 31USc higher at $US72.69 a barrel.
Gold prices hit two-month highs as disappointing US economic data continued to have a bearish influence on traders, who sought safety in the metal.
Futures for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, were up $US8.60, or 0.7%, at $US1242 an ounce in New York. The contract hit $US1243, its strongest since July 1.
August gold settled $US7.70, or 0.6%, higher at $US1239.50, its highest since June 30.
Currencies: Swiss franc up, US dollar down
The US dollar gained against the yen as investors weighed their concerns about the US recovery against rising speculation that Japanese authorities will take action to counter the yen's strength.
The Swiss franc hit an all-time high against the euro for the second-straight day. The euro fell to a series of record lows, most recently at 1.2973 Swiss francs during New York trading.
The dollar also fell to its lowest levels since January against the franc.
The euro was at $US1.2656 was down from $US1.2674 late on Tuesday. The dollar was at ¥84.65 from ¥84.17. The euro was at ¥107.10 from ¥106.67.
The pound was at $US1.5450 from $US1.5429.
