S&P 500
7,226.20
+0.01%
Dow Jones
49,494.60
-0.62%
Nasdaq 100
27,685.40
+0.66%
Russell 2000
2,804.78
-0.02%
FTSE 100
10,364.50
0.00%
Nikkei 225
59,260.50
-0.78%

Housing

Homebuilder ETFs Run On Housing Data (XHB, ITB)

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

The new home sales data is showing a very mixed bag, with a bit of a positive twist to it. We are seeing a run up in the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) and the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction (NYSE: ITB) as a result.  March 2009 new home sales came in at a rate of -0.6% down to 356,000 on an annualized basis.  We had consensus estimates pegged at 337,00 from Dow Jones and 330,000 from Bloomberg.  February was given a sharp revision to its already high +4.7% to a higher +8.2%.

The key metric we wanted to watch is the inventory levels.  This is coming down as companies have halted new construction and the March reading was 10.7 months worth of new housing inventory.  This reading is down from 11.2 months in February and that was down from 12.9 months in January.

The two ETF’s we track for the housing sector are up on the news: SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) is up over 4% at $13.54 and the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction (NYSE: ITB) is up 4% at $11.00 on much thinner volume.

JON C. OGG

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

New Home Sales Heading Wrong Way (XHB, ITB)

New home sales in December went back the wrong way, which was largely expected considering the data we had already…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Lower Housing Prices Generating Much Higher Sales (XHB, ITB)

The Commerce Department’s data on new home sales did not just rise in June for a third straight month.  The…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

New Home Sales Highlight Softness (XHB, ITB, DHI, LEN)

The Commerce Department has just shown a report that new home sales for the month of September turned south.  This…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Homebuilders Look Less Depressed in Survey (XHB, ITB)Homebuilders Look Less Depressed in Survey (XHB, ITB)

It looks like the NAHB survey of homebuilders are again feeling a bit “less-bad” than in recent surveys.  The survey…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Home Builders Already Cautious, Get More Cautious (XHB, ITB)

The prior data out of the National Association of Home Builders had been improving for three consecutive months.  New data…
Jon C. Ogg |

New Homes Sales Wreck Housing Players (HD, LOW, ITB, XHB)

The housing data keeps coming in with a mixed fan-fare.  The new home sales in America for the month of…
Paul Ausick |

Home Builders’ Confidence at Another Five-year High (KBH, LEN, ITB)

Positive signals continue to issue forth for US home builders. The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo housing market index…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Homebuilder ETF’s Hope This Is A Bottom (XHB, ITB)

There was another positive number on new home sales data for the month of February.  It looks like new home…
Will High Mortgage Rates Halt the Housing ETF Rally?
247patrick |

Will High Mortgage Rates Halt the Housing ETF Rally?

Higher mortgage rates are dampening housing market activity, with ETFs starting to show the pain.

Top Gaining Stocks

Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 1,568,143
New Pluto Global
PSKY • Vol: 12,285,993
Seagate Technology
STX • Vol: 7,378,346
Oracle
ORCL • Vol: 26,317,675
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ • Vol: 4,367,433
Clorox
CLX • Vol: 13,260,523
Stryker
SYK • Vol: 4,519,455
Mohawk Industries
MHK • Vol: 1,859,865
Amgen
AMGN • Vol: 3,818,618