The National Association of Realtors released their pending home sales figure today, posting the worst monthly change in the data’s existence. November 2009 saw a drop of 16%. This put a strong end to 9 consecutive months of positive growth. Despite the large drop, the index value is at 96.0, which brings it back to June 2009 levels.
View the news release: http://www.realtor.org/research/research/phsdata
Pending home sales are a leading indicator of housing market activity.
The markets initially dropped on the news, but have since shrugged it off and rebounded. The S&P opened down, but has since rallied and is now positive for the day. It appears nothing can stop the stocks from rallying. Currency markets have been relatively unaffected by the news. Heavier news is coming up later in the week, so the market may just be waiting it out. This includes the GBP central bank rate decision and statement, and USD non-farm employment change.
