Obsolete Certainty

The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have released New Residential Sales data for June 2010. Excerpts from the Release… Sales of new single-family houses in June 2010 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000 . This is 23.6 percent above the revised May rate of 267,000, but is 16.7 percent below the June 2009 estimate of 396,000 . The median sales price of new houses sold in June 2010 was $213,400…. The average sales price of new houses sold in June was $242,900…. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of June was 210,000. This represents a supply of 7.6 months at the current sales rate. Plain and Simple : New Home Sales in June rebounded from historic lows in May. Attention should be given to the fact that May survey…(read more)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks rose on Monday after an upbeat outlook from FedEx and solid home sales data cheered investors, helping the S&P 500 hold above a key resistance level.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The euro edged up and Asian shares rose on Monday as solid U.S. corporate earnings and surprisingly strong euro zone data offset growing skepticism that stress tests on European banks were not strict enough.

German business confidence is soaring while U.S. consumer sentiment sinks.

BP is holding up payments to victims of the Gulf oil spill, the compensation-fund administrator said. Meanwhile, clean-up crews returned to the site of the spill as Tropical Depression Bonnie passed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street enters next week on the cusp of a breakout in U.S. stocks, but it will need another spate of convincing earnings reports to feed the rally that sprouted at the end of this week.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street enters next week on the cusp of a breakout in U.S. stocks, but it will need another spate of convincing earnings reports to feed the rally that sprouted at the end of this week.

Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase were among banks that sold Goldman Sachs protection against the risk of a collapse of giant insurer American International Group, a source familiar with the matter said Friday.