Housing stocks drop after Fed's aggressive stance

MDC Holdings

16/03/2022 19:15

** Shares of U.S. homebuilders drop on Weds, but off session
lows, after the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates and signals
more to come
    ** Toll Brothers Inc  TOL.N  and Pultegroup Inc  PHM.N 
recently down ~2%, while D.R. Horton Inc  DHI.N  down ~1% while
Lennar Corp  LEN.N  flat
    ** U.S. central bank on Weds raised interest rates by
quarter of a percentage point, and in surprise move, projected
the equivalent of quarter-percentage-point rate increases at
each of its next six policy meetings this year  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VI1CD
    ** Home builders had already been under pressure since Fed
in Dec signaled it may have to hike rates sooner to battle
inflation
    ** S&P 1500 Home Building index  .SPCOMHOME  off 0.5% on the
session, now off 23% in 2022 following 49% gain last year
    ** PHLX Housing index  .HGX  down 0.6% on Weds, stretching
YTD loss to ~19% after rising 35% in 2021 

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-332-219-1430))