Stock prices rise following positive existing home sales report

Optimism and stock prices rose today, with news that existing home sales continued to improve in October, according to data from the National Association of Realtors released today. Sales of single-family homes jumped 10.1 percent from September, marking a seasonally-adjusted rate of 6.1 million units. Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, said that buyers rushing to meet the tax credit deadline — before congress approved an extension through April 2010 — likely had a strong influence on the uptick in activity. Subsequently, Yun said that this trend may not last. “Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for the first-time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November,” Yun said. “With such a sale spike, a measurable decline should be anticipated in December and early next year before another surge in spring and early summer.” The jump in activity wildly exceeded many analysts’ expectations (a 1.4 percent bump had been anticipated, according to a survey of leading U.S. economists), precipitating a significant bump in stock prices, according to the Associated Press. The Dow Jones jumped to 10,492, marking a 174 point increase, while the Standard & Poor index rose 20 points to 1,112 and the Nasdaq composite went up 42 at 2,188, following the positive housing market data’s release. TRD