Housing stocks see broad rally after strong home-sales data

The home-building sector enjoyed a broad rally in morning trading Tuesday, after data showing existing-home sales in February rose a lot more than expected. The iShares U.S. Home Construction exchange-traded fund
ITB,
+0.99%
climbed 1.3% toward a five-week high, with all 48 equity components gaining ground. Among the ETF’s more active components, shares of Home Depot Inc.
HD,
-0.02%
advanced 0.9%, D.R. Horton Inc.
DHI,
+0.04%
rose 0.5%, KB Home
KBH,
+2.83%
tacked on 2.4%, Lennar Corp.
LEN,
+1.27%
rallied 1.3% and PulteGroup Inc.
PHM,
+1.03%
was up 1.1%. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that existing-home sales for February leapt 14.5% to an annual rate of 4.58 million, the largest increase since July 2020, enough to reverse 12 months of losses and well above expectations of 4.2 million. The home construction ETF has hiked up 12.0% over the past three months, while the S&P 500
SPX,
+1.27%
has gained 2.7%.