On the ground floor: Sales of new U.S. homes plummeted in March, as the spring buying season opened with sharp declines in the Northeast and South. The Commerce Department announced this morning that new-home sales fell 11.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 481,000. This marks a swift reversal from an annual sales pace of 543,000 in February, which had been the strongest performance in seven years. The Associated Press has the full story.
Signs of job security: The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits was little changed last week, evidence that employers are cutting few jobs. Weekly applications for jobless aid ticked up 1,000 to a seasonally adjusted 295,000, the Labor Department announced this morning. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, increased to 284,500. Still, that is just 2,000 higher than three weeks ago when the average was at a nearly 15-year low. The Associated Press reports applications are a proxy for layoffs. The low level of the average is a sign of solid job security. Read the full story.
Ripple effects: The arrest of a London trader who allegedly helped cause the 2010 Flash Crash on Wall Street isn’t boosting investors’ confidence. As USA Today reports, it’s spooking them. “If this one random guy could impact billions of market value in seconds or milliseconds, what’s going on?” billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban wonders. Investors from Wall Street to Main Street are expressing bewildered concern over Navinder Singh Sarao’s alleged role in the Flash Crash on May 6, 2010, which caused the Dow Jones industrial Average to plunge nearly 600 points in five minutes. Read the full story.
