Rising home foreclosures fail to dent U.S. stocks

Britain News.Net
Wednesday 14th May, 2008

U.S. stocks were solidly higher in late afternoon trade Tuesday, despite disappointing data on home foreclosures.

Foreclosures in April were a staggering 65% higher than the same month last year, RealtyTrac reported on Wednesday.

243,353 foreclosures were recorded, up 4% on the March figure. The number includes all default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions reported.

"The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we've seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

Traders on Wall Street however ignored the data, sending all the major indices solidly higher.

The Dow Jones Industrials led the way, ahead 129.05 points, or 1.01%, at 12,961.23, in late afternoon trade.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 22.57 points, or 0.91%, at 2,517.69.

The Standard and Poor's 500 gained 13.33 points, or 0.95%, at 1,416.37.

The U.S. dollar was mixed. In late afternoon trade in New York the dollar was quoted little changed at 1.5460 versus the euro.

The yen was sharply weaker at 105.23, and similarly the Swiss franc was lighter at 1.0560.

The Canadian dollar gained to 1.0025 while the Australian dollar fell heavily to .9343, in the wake of the Federal budget.

The British pound was weaker at 1.9440.

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