Homebuilder ETFs Run On Housing Data (XHB, ITB)

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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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

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

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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.

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