Coming off of the long weekend, optimistic news from Greece trumped more depressing domestic economic signals. This helped boost the Dow Jones Industrial Average
The good and bad of yesterday
Markets welcomed Greek poll results for its June 17 election, which showed growing support for the New Democracy party, which advocates for following the already-laid European Union plans of austerity. However, the Syriza party, which advocates for abandoning the austerity measures, is right behind or tied with the New Democracy in the polls. Voters have plenty of time to change their views before the election, so expect more market reactions from future polls.
On the bear side, consumer confidence fell for the third month in a row, according to the Conference Board, which differs with the University of Michigan's reading of an improved consumer confidence level in May. Also, the Case-Shiller index, which measures housing prices in 20 cities, reflected a 2.6% drop for March on top of the 3.5% decline in February. Home prices in Atlanta led declines with a 17% drop over one year, while Phoenix posted the highest gain with a 6% improvement. The index is now back to levels last seen in late 2002:
Case-Shiller HPI: Composite 20 data by YCharts.
More housing news
Pending home sales for April will be released at 10 a.m. EDT, but the market only expects a modest rise of 0.6% for the index, which measures signed contracts for homes that have yet to be counted as sales. In March the index rose 4.1%, and it's now is at its highest level since April 2010. As the inventory of homes shrinks, homeowners hope that prices will end their slide, and builders hope for increased demand in newly constructed homes.
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Also reporting after the market closes, Lions Gate Entertainment
In the long run
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