The Event:
At 10 AM EST on Wednesday, March 24th, the U.S. Census Bureau releases its New Homes Sales number.
Description:
This figure counts the number of new homes sold in the previous month. It is a monthly release but calculated on a annualized basis. Rising new construction home sales lead to consumers buying additional products and services which in turn leads to greater economic activity lifting the U.S. dollar. On the other hand, decreasing new home sales indicates a slowing economy as the natural consumer buying after home purchase would be curtailed. Obviously, this can indicate a slowing economy which can slow the U.S. dollar.
Trader Take:
This number is projected to be 318k. It may miss the estimates based on the existing home sales coming in lower than expected. Good news for the USD is the fact that the Euro is hurting due to Eurozone issues. The pair is pushing back down toward the critical support at 1.3500. It will be interesting to see if the New Homes figure pushes the pair under the support.
David Goodboy is Vice President of Business Development for a New York City based multi-strategy fund.