Gold hit $1,300 an ounce due to a durable goods report and a housing report that was not as bad as people feared.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in August decreased $2.5 billion or 1.3 percent to $191.2 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. MarketWatch conducted a poll of economists. They were expecting a slightly worse decline, 1.4%; however, a Reuters’ survey expected a one percent decline.
The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index was up .85% in early morning trading. The Dow Jones reached 1.72% and the S&P 500 saw its way to 1.90%.
Existing home sales increased 7.6 per cent in August from a month ago. However, last month’s housing sales were 19% below the same figure a year ago.
“The housing market is trying to recover on its own power without the home buyer tax credit. Despite very attractive affordability conditions, a housing market recovery will likely be slow and gradual because of lingering economic uncertainty,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist in a statement.