Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices remain near their morning highs. The S&P 500 shows a 3.0% increase and the Nasdaq Composite sports a 3.8% gain. 

New home sales increased 7.4% month-over-month in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 724,000 units (Briefing.com consensus 684,000) from a downwardly revised 674,000 (from 676,000) in February. On a year-over-year basis, new home sales were up 6.0%.

The key takeaway from the report is that new home sales in March were aided by several factors that included better weather, more stable mortgage rates, and lower prices, but questions will remain about the sustainability factor given the jump in mortgage rates and stock market losses that have been seen in April.

Treasuries are little changed by the data. The 10-yr yield, at 4.30% before 10:00 ET, sits at 4.32%, which is seven basis points lower than yesterday's settlement.