The National Association of Realtors reported an extremely disappointing U.S. existing home sales number for the month of February Monday morning. Home sales reportedly dropped 7.1 percent to an annual rate of only 5.08 million units, well off the 2.8 percent decline that economists were expecting.

The sharp decline in the U.S. housing market could be a troubling sign that the U.S. economic resiliency during a weak global period may not be a strong as some had hoped. The weak housing number is major contrast to strong U.S. employment data and factory output stabilization.

The Northeast housing market was hit particularly hard during February, with sales falling 17.1 percent.

Despite the relatively weak month, February home sales remained up 2.2 percent year-over-year (Y/Y). In addition, the median home price is up 4.4 percent Y/Y to $210,800.

The number of unsold homes on the U.S. market came in at 1.88 million units in February. That number represents…

Click here to continue reading

Want to learn more about how to profit off the stock market? Or maybe you just want to be able to look sophisticated in front of your coworkers when they ask you what you are reading on your Kindle, and you’d prefer to tell them “Oh, I’m just reading a book about stock market analysis,” rather than the usual “Oh, I’m just looking at pics of my ex-girlfriend on Facebook.” For these reasons and more, check out my book, Beating Wall Street with Common Sense. I don’t have a degree in finance; I have a degree in neuroscience. You don’t have to predict what stocks will do if you can predict what traders will do and be one step ahead of them. I made a 400% return in the stock market over five years using only basic principles of psychology and common sense. Beating Wall Street with Common Sense is now available on Amazon, and tradingcommonsense.com is always available on your local internet!