Playing This Strange Homebuilders Rally By Don Dion About this article: Existing-home sales took a record dive in July, but builders of new homes, including NVR, D.R. Horton, PulteGroup, Toll Brothers and Lennar are all shooting into positive territory today. Were negative housing data expectations priced in this morning when these stocks opened? Are investors betting that the picture for new-home sales is better than that for existing-home sales? I'm not sure, to be honest. All I know is that I was startled to see one segment of the real estate market begin moving skyward right after depression over the latest government data was beginning to set in. I mean, the data on sales of previously owned U.S. homes were depressing, right? Sales of existing homes took the biggest drop they've taken in 15 years during July -- a point which Reuters immediately said suggests "further loss of momentum in the economic recovery." If the recovery is... To read the rest of this article and sign up for a FREE trial click here...

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