In April, US pending home sales surprised on the upside of expectations. On a monthly basis, pending home sales rose by 6.7% M/M, while the consensus expected to see a more moderate increase 0.5% M/M. The details show that the improvement was driven by a 32.6% M/M rebound in sales in the Northeast, while the Midwest rose by 9.8% M/M and the West increased by 1.8% M/M. Pending home sales dropped slightly (-0.2% M/M) in the South. This is the largest increase since October 2001 and the third consecutive monthly gain in pending home sales which might indicate that the government programs and dropping prices are attracting buyers to the market of existing homes.
EMU: unemployment climbes to 9.2% in April
In April, the euro zone unemployment rate rose from 8.9% to 9.2%, while the consensus was looking for an outcome of 9.1%. According to Eurostat’s estimates, 14.6 million men and woman in the euro area were unemployed in April, 3.1 million more than in April last year. The euro zone unemployment rate is now at its highest level in almost 10 years and an improvement in labour market conditions is not expected for the coming months. In Spain, the unemployment rate rose to 18.1% in April, but more recent data (May) showed the first drop in Spanish unemployment in 14 months.
