US New Home Sales Report Could Signal Potential Shifts in Housing Market

U.S. New Home Sales Report Could Signal Potential Shifts in Housing Market

The US Census Bureau will report its last New Home Sales data today. This figure may outline just how the newly built single-family homes market is performing in general. Given expectations, sales may have come in slightly under the 0.739 million recorded the previous month around 0.689 million. Such news may be worth a lot concerning how the US housing market is doing in general.

If those numbers come in on or above projections, then there could be an opportunity for the housing market to recover a bit and build confidence in a restarted economy. Such an event would also help strengthen the U.S. dollar because other areas of the economy are also stabilizing in a recovering housing market. These numbers could be measured as a sign of the strength of consumer confidence and spending and may prove to guide investment strategies going forward.

But if actual data is below forecast, this could indicate a slowing of demand for new houses and, therefore, that problems exist in the housing market. Thus, this result can indicate that consumers' activity is being throttled by rising interest rates, inflationary pressures, or affordability problems. Under those circumstances, the U.S. dollar may come under some degree of downward pressure, as the housing market often acts as a bellwether of the economy at large.

Will U.S. crude stocks drive global oil market changes?

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its report on Crude Oil Stocks Change today. According to a forecast, 1.499 million barrels are going to be drained off the stockpiles, though this should not be that deep as during the previous week when 1.630 million barrels were withdrawn from the storage. Global oil prices may be impacted by this report if the difference in reality is close enough to the quantity of the forecast. If the actual drawdowns where to surpass expectations, oil prices may rally further as supply continues to tighten while demand does not, and conversely, if the stock reduction is smaller or if inventories are rising sooner and more than expected, oil prices face downside pressure as market participants may view this as a sign of weak demand. Findings in this report would therefore impact the future trends of the energy market and have implications on investment strategy and general economic policies.