News that more Americans are poised to buy homes and hopes that the job market is primed for growth sent stocks higher Thursday.
The four-week average of unemployment claims fell to a three-and-a-half-year low of 375,000, an indication that hiring could pick up.
The National Association of Realtors says its index of agreements to buy homes jumped 7.3 percent last month. Quincy Krosby, Prudential Financial’s market strategist, said the report was an encouraging signal for the overall economy going in to 2012.
The positive housing news sent the stocks of home builders sharply higher. Masco Corp. soared over 5 percent, and was the largest gainer in the S&P 500. PulteGroup Inc. and Lennar Corp. both rose above 4 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 108 points, or 0.9 percent, at 12,259 as of 2:40 p.m. The S&P 500 rose 10 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,259.
tededitedit posted at 7:50 pm on Thu, Dec 29, 2011.
People need to be buying existing, renovated homes, not new ones. Builders need to put their people to work fixing up what's already in this huge surplus. Until this surplus is reduced, any "recovery" will not last long and most neighborhoods will continue to see an accelerated decline.