NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - Shares of homebuilders soared Monday after a
trade group report showed U.S. existing homes sales rose unexpectedly in
February.
The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) rallied 7.7% to
$21.39, after touching $21.63 in intraday trading, the highest level since Feb.
4.
The S&P Homebuilders SPDR (XHB) jumped 5.9% to $23.66.
Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. rose in February after six
straight months of declines, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.
Sales increased 2.9% in February to an annual rate of 5.03 million units,
from the 4.89 million unit pace in January. Economists polled by Thomson's IFR
Markets were expecting the pace to fall slightly to 4.85 million units.
Among individual issues, shares of Lennar Corp. rallied 10.4% to $19.57,
D.R. Horton Inc. gained 8.8% to $17.07, and Pulte Homes soared 11.7% to $16.35.
NVR Inc. rose 5.1% to $623.46, while Toll Brothers Inc. rose 8.3% to $25.01
and Champion Enterprises Inc. added 9.7% to $10.55.
KB Home rallied 10.3% to $27.87 and Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. soared 14.8%
to $13.09.
Wanfeng Zhou
wz/vj
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