The battered US housing industry saw some surprisingly good news today.
Sales of new US homes unexpectedly rose 2.8% to an 870,000 annual sales pace in July, reversing two months of declines, and inventories eased, official figures showed today.
Analysts were expecting new home sales to dip to an 820,000 sales pace.
The Commerce Department report showed that new home sales in June were revised to an annual rate of 846,000 from the previously reported 834,000 rate.
Additional good news for investors came as the Commerce Department reported a rise in factory sales.
A report showed that new orders for long-lasting US manufactured goods surged by 5.9% in July, much more than expected, in what was the biggest gain since September.
Non-military capital goods orders excluding aircraft, viewed as an indicator of business spending, gained 2.2%, the steepest climb since March.
Excluding the volatile transport sector, durables orders jumped 3.7% in July, the sharpest rise since August 2005 and the first rise in that category since April. When defence orders were stripped out, durables orders advanced 4.9%, the strongest increase since March.
Transportation equipment orders rose 10.8%. Civilian and defence aircraft orders advanced by 12.6% and 15.8% respectively, while orders for cars, trucks and parts advanced 9.8%.
Orders for computers and electronic products and machinery posted their sharpest gains since November 2006.
