Dollar Retreats

In the currency market, the dollar fell against the euro. Late Wednesday, the euro was trading at $1.4214 vs. $1.4199 on Tuesday.
On the economic front, U.S. home prices rose 0.9% on a seasonally-adjusted basis from April to May, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s monthly House Price Index. The previously reported 0.1% decline in April was revised to a 0.3% decline. For the 12 months ending in May, U.S. prices fell 5.6%. The U.S. index is 10.7% below its April 2007 peak.

“Revisions and volatility of the monthly index make it hard to draw any conclusions, but the seasonally-adjusted HPI for the first five months of this year is up 0.3% or 0.7% on an annualized basis,” said FHFA Director James Lockhart.

The FHFA monthly index is calculated using purchase prices of houses backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. For the nine Census Divisions, seasonally-adjusted monthly price changes from April to May ranged from -2.0% in the New England Division to +2.7% in the Pacific Division.

Meanwhile, mortgage applications rose a seasonally adjusted 2.8% last week from the prior week, overcoming higher interest rates charged on fixed-rate home loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s survey released yesterday.

The latest results, for the week ended July 17, mark the third straight week of greater activity in mortgage applications.

Last week’s applications were up an unadjusted 6.6% from the same week last year. The Washington-based MBA’s survey covers about half of all applications filed for retail residential mortgages.

Source: Dollar Retreats