A disappointing read from the US housing sector: sales of existing homes dropped by 7.1% in February to 5.08 million, significantly below expectations.
The US dollar is losing some ground, but the moves are not that huge.
Earlier, FOMC member John Williams did leave the door open for a hike even in April, something that is not considered by markets given the dovish statement and the fact that the April meeting does not consist of a press conference. June is still on the cards, but chances seem low.
Sales of existing home were expected to drop to an annualized level of 5.32 million in February from 5.47 million in January (before revisions). This would be a drop of 2.8% in comparison to a rise of 0.4% seen beforehand.
The US dollar was somewhat recovering from the big Fed blow seen last week from the Fed.
The majority of the home sales market is of second hand, existing homes. However, sales of new homes trigger more economic activity in comparison with sales of existing ones.
Later this week we’ll learn about new home sales, durable goods orders and also the third read of GDP for Q4, coming out on Good Friday.
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