Page 25 - ARUBA TODAY

BUSINESS Wednesday 22 november 2017
A25

US home sales Led by tech, health care, stocks set more records
rise as hurricane

impact withers By MARLEY JAY 1 percent, and they’ve all
AP Markets Writer had a very strong year. JJ
NEW YORK (AP) — The Kinahan, chief market strat-
By CHRIS RUGABER market’s biggest winners egist at TD Ameritrade, said
AP Economics Writer this year, technology and that’s not about to stop.
WASHINGTON (AP) — health care, powered U.S. “They’re seeing better
Americans bought more stock indexes to more all- earnings, better sales, bet-
homes last month, as sales time highs on Tuesday. ter growth,” he said. “It’s
snapped back in hurri- Huge technology compa- difficult to argue with that.”
cane-hit Texas and Florida. nies like Apple and Face- The S&P 500 index climbed
Yet the market is still suffer- book continued their as- 16.89 points, or 0.7 per-
ing from a dwindling sup- cent, while strong reports cent, to 2,599.03. The Dow
ply of available homes. from companies including Jones industrial average
Sales rose 2 percent in Oc- medical device maker gained 160.50 points, or 0.7
tober to a seasonally ad- Medtronic and construc- Traders Gregory Rowe, left, and William McInerney works on the percent, to 23,590.83. The
justed annual rate of 5.48 tion and technical services floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The market’s biggest win- Nasdaq composite added
million, the National As- company Jacobs Engi- ners this year, technology and health care, powered U.S. stock 71.76 points, or 1.1 percent,
sociation of Realtors said neering helped health care indexes to more all-time highs on Tuesday. to 6,862.48.
Tuesday. That’s the fastest and industrial companies, (AP Photo/Richard Drew) The Russell 2000 index of
pace since June. respectively. also rose. Telecommunica- Apple, Facebook, Alpha- smaller-company stocks
Still, sales have slipped 0.9 Basic materials companies, tions companies declined, bet, Microsoft and Ama- rose for a fourth day and
percent from a year ago. which have done better while energy companies zon, the five most valuable picked up 15.49 points, or
The number of available than the rest of the Stan- and banks didn’t do as well companies on the stock 1 percent, to 1,518.89. All
homes has fallen 10.4 per- dard & Poor’s 500 index, as the rest of the market. market, all rose more than four indexes set records.q
cent from a year earlier to
just 1.8 million. That’s the
lowest for any October Lowe’s hurricane lift doesn’t blow away investors
since the Realtors began
tracking the data in 1999. MOORESVILLE, N.C. (AP) lion, or $1.05 per share, also Last week, Home Depot which is better than indus-
The tight supply is push- — Lowe’s profit more than besting industry analyst also topped most expec- try analysts had expected.
ing up prices and thwart- doubled in the third quar- projections by 3 cents per tations, but was a lot more Lowe’s did lower general
ing many would-be home ter as Americans along share. Still, investors were optimistic about the year, and administrative costs
buyers. The median home the Gulf Coast loaded up not wowed in premarket saying it believes earnings to $3.81 billion, from $4.08
price jumped 5.5 percent trunks and trucks with ma- trading Tuesday because,
in October from a year ear- terial to repair the damage unlike rival Home Depot will rise about 14 percent, billion.q
lier. And homes were on delivered by a pair of gi- Inc., the storms did not lead
the market for just 34 days, gantic hurricanes. higher profit or sales projec-
down from 41 a year ago. The company said sales tions. The Mooresville, North
The supply crunch is partic- related to hurricanes Irma Carolina, home improve-
ularly acute among lower- and Harvey reached $200 ment retailer said it expects
priced homes. Builders are million in the quarter, push- to earn $4.20 to $4.30 per
putting up more expensive ing revenue to $16.77 bil- share this year, the same
houses to maximize profits. lion. That’s better than the projections it released in
“Selection is slim across the $16.57 billion Wall Street August. That’s below the
board, driving up prices, was looking for and it per-share projections of
but even more so for those topped last year’s revenue $4.50 on Wall Street.
seeking less expensive and of $15.74 billion. Shares slipped 2 percent
entry-level homes,” Svenja Net income was $872 mil- before the opening bell.
Gudell, chief economist
at Zillow, said. “Currently,
roughly half of what’s avail-
able to buy is priced in the
upper one-third of home
values, leaving scant op-
tions for those aging mil-
lennials and young families
trying to get their foot in
the door.” Buyers closed
more deals in Houston,
Orlando and Jacksonville,
Florida, as well as other
areas damaged by Hur-
ricanes Harvey and Irma,
NAR chief economist Law-
rence Yun said. Sales were
still recovering in Miami
and other areas in south
Florida. Steady hiring and
still-low mortgage rates are
boosting demand, spur-
ring healthy traffic at open
houses, Yun said.q