Existing home sales climbed 2.2% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.24 million, according to the National Association of Realtors, the strongest pace since February 2024. Economists polled by Bloomberg expected existing home sales to hit a pace of 4.2 million in December.

U.S. stocks are hanging near their all-time high on Friday as they head for the close of a second straight winning week. The S&P 500 fell 0.1% in afternoon trading, a day after setting a record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 46 points,

Wall Street is pointing slightly lower in early trading but is on track to close the week with solid gains on healthy quarterly earnings reports from large U.S. corporations