The National Association of Realtors said yesterday existing-home sales fell 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million units in December.In addition, inventory in December dropped 11.4% for the month, and 10.3% for the year. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, “The lack of supply over the past year has been eye-opening”.  Sales dropped 7.5% in the Northeast, 6.3% in the Midwest, 1.7% in the South and 1.6% in the West.

Today, the Commerce Department said new home sales declined 9.3% to an annualized rate of 625,000, the largest decrease since August 2016. November’s sale was revised down to 689,000 units from 733,000 previously reported.

The euro is up 0.6% against the U.S. dollar after the European Central Bank kept its rates unchanged, as expected.  At the same time, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Davos commented that he believes in the “strength of the dollar”, clarifying his comment's from yesterday.

The major indices are somewhat volatile as traders observe the latest earnings report from industrial giants. On the NYSE, decliners outpace advancers 1462/1493 while on the Nasdaq advancers led decliners 1577/1298.