Wall Street : back up despite the housing figures

Wall Street, very volatile today, returns slightly in the green, despite the poor sales figures for new housing in the United States and a new surge in oil prices toward $ 106 a barrel on the Nymex. Traders still attentive to developments in the situation in Libya and the nuclear crisis in Japan. The DJIA returned 0.46% at 12,074 points, while the Nasdaq is 0.29% to 2692 pts.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday, sales of new homes in the United States in February 2011 have been established in the seasonally adjusted rhythm of 250,000 units, a sharp decline of 17% over the reviewed in January level 301,000 and down 28% compared to 347 thousand in February 2010.

The median sales price was $ 202,100. It has plunged by 13.9% in February, a record, while the buyers find better deals in the old (median price $ 156,100).

The stock was 186,000 units, representing 8.9 months of supply.

The consensus was 291,000 units in February 2011. Sales in January 2011 were previously estimated at 284,000.

According to the latest weekly report released by the American Department of Energy, commercial stocks of crude, excluding the strategic reserve have increased for the week ended March 18, 2011, by 2.1 million barrels to 352.8 million barrels. The consensus expected a rise of 1.6 million barrels.

Gasoline stocks have now declined by 5.3 million barrels when the consensus expected a decline of 1.8 million barrels. Finally, stocks of distillate products (diesel and heating oil) remained unchanged when the consensus expected a decline of 1.3 million barrels.