US midday: Housing and manufacturing data beats expectations

Date: Wednesday 27 Jun 2012

- Stocks up on housing data
- Durable goods orders beat expectations
- Facebook down as analysts begin covering the stock

Dow Jones: +0.75%
S&P 500: +0.88%
NASDAQ: +0.92%

American stocks climbed after strong housing and manufacturing data cheered investors.

An index of pending sales of previously owned houses climbed 5.9% in May, after retreating 5.5% in April. Analysts had been expecting a rise just above 1%.

Meanwhile orders for durable goods were also better than expected in May, climbing 1.1%, according to the Commerce Department. This was the first such rise since February.

Speculation is mounting that the Chinese authorities may take further action to stimulate the economy. A stream of bad data out of China has raised the prospect of banks having capital requirement rules relaxed.

In Europe, it’s all about the summits. The next one starts tomorrow in Brussels. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has ruled out so called eurobonds as a way of easing the debt crisis but she is sure to face more pressure from the other 16 members of the currency union for more drastic action.

COMPANIES

Facebook had dropped 1.2% by 12:33 as 17 research houses started covering the stock.

Pharma giant, Bristol-Myers Squibb, rose 1.6% by 12:35 after announcing a $3bn share buyback programme over the next three years.

BS

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