Wall Street sees hope in home sales

NEW YORK -- Housing, one of the bright spots on Wall Street in 2015, will get another chance to build on its recent momentum when data on existing home sales for July are released today.

Housing data have come in strong recently, giving housing-related stocks a lift and shining a positive light on a key part of the U.S. economy. July housing starts rose 0.2% to a better-than-expected annualized pace of 1.206 million units — the best reading since October 2007. A similarly strong reading on a housing index that measures homebuilders' sentiment also pointed to strong momentum in the housing market. Indeed, the National Association of Home Builders said sentiment is at its highest level since November 2005.

The strong data prompted David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff, to pen a research report titled, "The House That Roared."

"The U.S. housing market is on fire," he wrote, adding that the upbeat incoming data are "pointing to continued momentum."

Up next is the July existing home sales data, set for release today at 10 a.m. ET.

Wall Street economists are expecting sales of existing homes to dip a little more than 1% month over month on a sales estimate of 5.43 million units on an annualized basis, down from the 5.49 million pace in June.

Wall Street is looking for more signs that point to "further improvement in housing in the third quarter," Jesse Hurwitz of Barclays said in a recent report.