Data Buoyed Stocks

(Reuters) - New single-family home sales rose solidly in April and prices pushed higher, offering further evidence the housing market was turning the corner. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday sales increased 3.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 343,000-unit annual rate after a 332,000-unit pace in March. The report, whose details were fairly bullish, came on the heels of news on Tuesday that home resales hit a two-year high in April and suggested the housing market recovery was gaining traction. It also highlighted the economy's underlying strength, even though job growth has slowed in recent months. The weak housing market had been the Achilles heel of the economy's recovery from the 2007-09 recession. "It's encouraging. These are signs that we might be forming a bottom in ...

Stocks were little changed on Friday but remained on track for a second week of declines after JPMorgan Chase & Co revealed a trading loss of at least $2 billion from a failed hedging strategy. The news weighed on bank shares, sending the Dow component down 8.9 percent to $37.11, but indexes rebounded off their early lows, continuing a trend this week of investors using dips as an occasion to buy. Stocks were also buoyed by upbeat consumer sentiment data and an earnings beat by Nvidia Corp. JPMorgan (JPM.N) estimates the business unit involved in the trading loss will lose $800 million in the current quarter, excluding private equity results and litigation expenses. The bank had previously expected the unit to earn a profit of about $200 million. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of the ...

(Reuters) - Asian shares slipped on Thursday and the euro languished near a 2-week low after disappointing economic data from both sides of the Atlantic rekindled concerns about the strength of global growth. Commodities and the Australian dollar - all sensitive to growth expectations - also struggled as the data put investors on the defensive and limited appetite for riskier assets. The euro had fallen nearly 1 percent to $1.3122 on Wednesday, and European stocks also dropped, after a survey showed euro zone factories sank further into decline last month, with the downturn hitting Italy and Spain hard and appearing to take root among core members France and Germany. .EU With recently-downgraded Spain looking to raise funds in the bond market on Thursday, the European Central Bank will ...

(Reuters) - U.S. equities rose slightly on Thursday as solid U.S. home sales data buoyed optimism and outweighed discouraging labor market figures. Global equities and the euro also edged higher, despite simmering worries over the euro zone. Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes increased solidly to a near two-year high in March, offering hopes of a pick-up in housing. U.S. stocks rose shortly after the data, with the euro advancing against the dollar as well. "In any case, progress on the housing market is going to be slow and gradual," said ING's Teunis Brosens. "The pick-up in sales over the past few months appears to be at least partly driven by all-cash buyers." The pending home sales data is an important clue to existing home sales, Brosens added. "Slowly but surely, ...

Global shares jumped on Wednesday after stellar earnings from Apple Inc bolstered optimism over corporate earnings and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was prepared to do more to aid the U.S. economy if necessary. The dollar slipped and U.S. stocks extended gains in late trade after Bernanke said the Fed "would not hesitate" to launch another round of bond purchases to drive borrowing costs lower, though he made no suggestion further support was in the works. Bernanke's news conference following the Fed's latest policy meeting capped a see-saw session. Earlier, the Fed reiterated its expectation that interest rates would not rise until late 2014 at the earliest, a statement that briefly drove bond yields up and led gold to sell off before recovering. The broad ...

(Reuters) - Crude futures rose on Thursday after two straight days of losses as data showing a drop in U.S. jobless claims combined with uncertainty about supply disruptions to prompt short-covering ahead of a long holiday weekend. Data showing initial jobless benefits claims fell to the lowest level in nearly four years last week arrived a day ahead of the closely watched U.S. March nonfarm payrolls report, expected to show a gain of 203,000 jobs, including a rise in private payrolls. The West's tightening sanctions hampering Iran's oil exports and the uncertainty ahead of talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear program expected to be held at midmonth also helped support crude prices. Crude futures fell more than 2 percent on Wednesday after data showed a sharp rise in U.S. crude stocks ...

Gold rose on Thursday, as investors covered short positions after a sharp two-day pullback, and a crude oil rally also buoyed the precious metal that sank early this week when investors grew pessimistic about further U.S. monetary easing. Bullion rebounded from its biggest two-day drop in a month after it steadied above key technical resistance at $1,600 an ounce where investors had placed heavy put options to protect against further losses. Trading volume was thin ahead of Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report and the Good Friday holiday in Western markets. Gold remained on track for a weekly decline exceeding 2 percent after minutes of the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting doused hopes for further U.S. monetary stimulus. Market watchers said some hedge funds might have reduced ...

European shares and the euro fell on Thursday on fears the euro debt crisis is flaring up again, crimping investors' appetite for riskier assets ahead of a long holiday weekend for many global markets. Chinese shares bucked the softer global trend, posting their biggest single-day rise since early February led by non-banking financials after Premier Wen Jiabao said the monopoly formed by the country's big banks needed to be broken to get money flowing to cash-starved private firms. Global stocks dropped more than 1 percent and gold tumbled to its lowest in nearly three months on Wednesday as euro zone worries, centered on Spain's public and private sector debt burdens, added to concerns that markets won't get another round of monetary stimulus from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Lower-rated ...

(Reuters) - Stocks and the euro fell on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve dimmed hopes for fresh asset-buying, further underlining its divergence with an embattled Europe that remains in crisis-fighting mode. Overnight minutes from the Fed's March meet showed less support for more quantitative easing (QE), or bond-buying, in the face of improved economic data, which buoyed the dollar and hit stocks in both the United States and Asia. With Europe still battling its debt crisis and struggling with economic growth, the focus later will be on the European Central Bank's latest rate-setting meeting, with rates expected to remain on hold at 1 percent. The Asian weakness extended into early European trade with the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 down 0.1 percent and world stocks .MIWD00000PUS ...