Disappointing new home sales numbers for November spur mixed stock market reactions

Despite promising numbers released this week for existing home sales during November, sales of new homes fell unusually far below expectations, and reactions in the stock market have been mixed. Sales of new homes were down 11.3 percent month-over-month, and median sales prices were down nearly 2 percent year-over-year, though as Diana Olick pointed out, that does not take into account the buyer incentives that home builders have been piling on to their new properties in addition to price cuts. The numbers may be “a sign that the tax credit, even extended, may not have the same results that it had the first time around,” she said. CNBC assembled a panel of experts to discuss the implications of the data, including Bruce Kasman, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan.