Stocks rally on reported new home sales rebound

Stocks rose today following the release of the Commerce Department’s June new home sales report
this morning, which said the annual rate rose to 330,000 units last
month, beating economists’ estimates. In afternoon trading, the Dow
Jones industrial average rose 66 points, which some analysts attributed
to investors finding new optimism in the housing market. Stock prices
for major U.S. home builders like D.R. Horton, Lennar and Toll Brothers
rose more than 2 percent after the report’s release, in a rebound from
the decline that followed the expiration of the federal government’s
first-time homebuyer tax credit, for which the contract signing
deadline was April 30. [AP via Palm Beach Post]