Weak US housing, business data fuel ‘double-dip’ concerns

New US homes sales fell to their lowest level in about half a century and manufacturing orders came in far worse than expected, the government said last Wednesday, fuelling concerns the world’s largest economy could slip back into recession.

Adding to the recent slew of depressing data, the Commerce Department said sales of new single-family houses unexpectedly slumped 12.4 per cent in July to 276,000 units from a month earlier.

July sales broke below the 300,000 mark for the first time in the data’s 47 years of history, baffling most economists who had expected sales to rise to 334,000 units.

In another indication of a faltering economy, the department said orders for big-ticket items in the US rose only slightly in July – much lower than expected and signalling a slowdown in business spending on capital equipment.

New orders for manufactured durable goods – items such as planes, cars, refrigerators and computers – increased 0.3 per cent to $193 billion following two consecutive monthly decreases, the department said.

Most economists had expected orders to rebound by a stronger three per cent.