“Stock market doesn’t only teaches to make money but it also teaches lot about life, patience, persistence and wisdom.” ― Raj Mishra

1. U.S. Home Sales Fall for 12th Straight Month — Sales of previously owned homes, which make up most of the housing market, fell 0.7% in January from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4 million, the slowest since October 2010, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. January sales fell 36.9% from a year earlier.
January’s decline marked the longest streak of back-to-back monthly declines on record in figures going back to 1999, NAR said. Surprisingly strong inflation, jobs and retail spending figures in recent weeks have fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates more than investors anticipated. The Fed has aggressively raised its benchmark federal-funds rate to cool the economy and bring down high inflation, hitting the rate-sensitive housing market particularly hard.
2. Fed Minutes Show Most Officials Favored Quarter-Point Rate Rise — Officials at their meeting earlier this month agreed to slow rate increases by lifting their benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter-percentage point, following larger moves of a half point in December and 0.75 point in November. Minutes from that meeting, showed most thought a slower pace provided the best way to manage the risks of raising rates too much or too little. But the minutes also revealed some officials were concerned about stopping or slowing their inflation-fighting campaign too soon. The latest increase brought the fed-funds rate to a range between 4.5% and 4.75%, extending the fastest series of rate rises since the early 1980s. While the quarter-point rate rise was backed unanimously by the rate-setting committee, the minutes said a few officials favored or would have also agreed to support a half-point increase.
3. Economy Showing Strength in Early 2023 After Last Quarter’s GDP Gain Revised Modestly Lower — gross domestic product, a broad measure of the goods and services produced across the U.S., rose at a 2.7% annual rate in the fourth quarter, adjusted for seasonality and inflation, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was down from a previous estimate of 2.9% growth, and slower than the third quarter’s 3.2% growth. Entering this year, forecasters had projected the economy to cool, but recent data shows a strong labor market and improved spending. Worker claims for unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, ticked down last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Hiring accelerated last month and the unemployment rate fell to a 53-year low. Retail sales jumped 3% in January, reversing two consecutive months of decline, a separate Commerce Department report showed. Business activity, particularly in the services sector, picked up in February, according to surveys of manufacturers and service providers released last week.

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