For the fourth month in a row, New Home Sales rise faster than expected. This month’s 619,000 newly constructed homes is 119% of what analysts predicted. Jobless Claims (first unemployment check requests) dropped 2.5%, and Durable Goods Orders shot up from 1.9% last month to 3.4% this month. Stocks are down and bonds are up, though quite modestly. Tomorrow brings another reading of the first quarter GDP. The last consensus was a 0.5% increase and the expectations are that tomorrow will show a 0.9% spike. Perhaps the additional data since the previous poll will facilitate that much-searched-for bump in perceived economic activity. Any surprises one way or the other in GDP will most likely cause a breakout in the Bond market (hence the Breakout picture). We’ll see tomorrow.
