Investing.com - The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index rose at the slowest pace in 13 months in May, dampening optimism over the housing sector, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, Standard & Poor’s with Case-Shiller said its house price index rose at an annualized rate of 9.3% in May from a year earlier, below forecasts for a gain of 10.0% and following a rise of 10.8% in April.
Month-on-month, U.S. home prices climbed by a seasonally adjusted 1.1%, below expectations for a 1.5% gain and following an increase of 1.1% in the preceding month.
“Home prices rose at their slowest pace since February of last year,” says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar held on to gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.16% to trade at 1.3417.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow pointed to a gain of 0.2%, the S&P 500 indicated a rise of 0.15%, while the Nasdaq 100 signaled an increase of 0.2%.