HW 30 — HousingWire’s exclusive list of mortgage-related stocks — was the only stock index to finish the week in negative territory, as the housing market reported mixed results.
Stocks on the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq finished the 5-day trading period up on better than expected corporate earnings.
However, home improvement stocks on the HW 30 took a massive hit after Cleveland Research analyst Eric Bosshard lowered estimates for both Home Depot (HD) and Lowe’s Company (LOW).
Both retailers are expecting to see softer sales growth in the latter half of 2013, with Home Depot's fourth-quarter estimate dropping from 6% to 5%.
As a result, the home improvement company experienced its largest intraday-trading drop since August on Friday, falling as much as 2.6%.
Additionally, Lowe’s fourth-quarter estimates were lowered from 5% to 4.5%, prompting its stock to decline 2.8%—the most since June.
The mortgage market produced mixed results this week, with mortgage applications edging up slightly and homebuilder confidence sluggish.
Consequently, homebuilder stocks closed down on Friday.
D.R. Horton (DHI), Lennar Corp (LEN), PHH Corp. (PHH) and Toll Brothers (TOL) also fell Friday, with a few of them nearing a 1% drop.
On a reverse note, housing database websites, Trulia (TRLA) and Zillow (Z), were the HW 30 leaders, both finishing the trading day, up 4.87% and 4.20%, respectively.
