Housing Stocks Posting Strong Gains Despite Disappointing Data

(RTTNews) - Housing stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside during trading on Thursday, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.6 percent. The index continues to regain ground after ending Tuesday's trading at its lowest closing level in well over two months.

The strength among housing stocks comes even though a report from the National Association of Realtors showed an unexpected drop in existing home sales in the month of August.

Weyerhaeuser (WY) is turning in one of the housing sector's best performances after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the forest product company's stock with a Buy rating.