US Economy shows signs of revival

Closing year with a stronger-than-expected activity and easing worries about a general slowdown in US economy, stats unveiled by the Commerce Department on Friday revealed unexpected positive growth in the housing sector and big-ticket manufactured goods sector.

The upward movement of the graph further dashed hopes for an early interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The stats also projected more verve in some of the soft economic sectors of the US economy.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's policy-making Federal Open Market Committee has kept interest rates on hold until it’s a two-day meeting scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Clearing backlog of newly built houses, new-home sales rose 4.8 percent in December to an annual pace of 1.12 million units.

Though figures of vacant new homes fell to its lowest level since the start of last year, the supply was enough supply to meet about 6 months worth of demand, officials at Commerce Department revealed.

However, contrary to the overall upward trend in the US economy, new home sales in West posted a 4.4 percent drop in December.

Separately, stats of the Commerce Department reported a 3.1 percent rise for its big-ticket manufactured goods sector in December to a seasonally adjusted total of $221.9 billion.

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods rose in December by the largest amount in three months leading to a huge jump in demand for commercial aircraft and the biggest increase in orders for cars and trucks in more than two years.

Apart from Boeing jetliners which posted a 26.5 percent increase, other components like machinery and primary metals also posted sharp hikes.

Despite struggling over rising gasoline prices, the auto sector saw a 6.8 percent rise in orders for vehicles and part.

The unexpected climb in the figures gave a value boost to the dollar. US stocks weakened in early trading while bonds fell and the dollar strengthened against the yen and euro.