Home sales hit 14-year low; data rivals lowest reading since government began publishing the data in 1998
Equities and precious metals prices dropped after the United States released data Wednesday morning showing home sales slumped 1% to a 14-year low despite falling interest rates.
Despite the significant news, economists had anticipated a 1.3% drop. Year-over-year sales have dropped 3.5% from September of last year.
Within minutes of the data release, gold prices moved away from the week’s high of near $2,760 an ounce and traded in the $2,710 range.
The silver spot price dropped significantly and appeared to be testing support at about $33.50 an ounce.
Silver prices move lower Wednesday morning. (Source: TradingView)
Alberto Bernal, a strategist at XP Securities, posted on X, “This very poor performance of the housing market is tied to the worst affordability levels for first-time home buyers EVER, plus still very high mortgage rates (which keeps new buyers and possible sellers away from the market).”
Blue Line Futures Chief Market Strategist Phil Streible also noticed weakness in equities that could lead investors to take risk off the table in the precious metals markets. He specifically noted a large drop in McDonald’s, which, as of Wednesday morning, was trading more than 4% lower on news of an E. coli outbreak affecting quarter-pounder sandwiches.
