Lack of supply of existing homes keeping prices elevated. Real Time Economic Calendar provided by Investing.com. **NEW** As part of the ongoing process to offer new and up-to-date information regarding seasonal and technical investing, we are adding a section to the daily reports that details the stocks that are entering their period of seasonal strength, based on average historical start dates. Stocks highlighted are for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice to purchase or to sell mentioned securities. As always, the use of technical and fundamental analysis is encouraged in order to fine tune entry and exit points to average seasonal trends. Stocks Entering Period of Seasonal Strength Today: Vermilion Energy Trust (TSE:VET) Seasonal Chart CI Financial Corp. (TSE:CIX) Seasonal Chart Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSE:LB) Seasonal Chart Canadian Natural Resources Limited (TSE:CNQ) Seasonal Chart Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) Seasonal Chart Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF) Seasonal Chart Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) Seasonal Chart Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD) Seasonal Chart Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE:NBR) Seasonal Chart The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:GT) Seasonal Chart The Markets Stocks digested recent gains, trading marginally lower on Wednesday. The S&P 500 Index shed a mere tenth of a percent, dragged lower by weakness in the energy sector as the price of oil gave back yesterday’s gain. Equity benchmarks remain overbought, but investors still have no incentive to exit this market On the economic front, data continues to beat expectations, this time with the report on existing home sales. The headline print showed that sales of existing homes came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million for January, exceeding the consensus forecast calling for 5.575 million. This is higher by 3.3% versus the previously revised rate of 5.51 million for December. Stripping out the seasonal adjustments, sales were actually lower by 26.8%, better than the average decline for the first month of the year of 27.2%. Strength in sales in the midwest and south helped support the above average result. The story of existing home sales continues to revolve around supply, which remains depressed at only 3.6 months of inventory. A balanced market is typically characterized by 6 months of supply. The result continues to place upward pressure on prices, which, from a non-seasonally adjusted perspective, declined by only 1.9%, approximately half of the average decline for the first month of the year. While this trend of above average growth in house prices is a benefit to the balance sheets of current home owners, the incremental buyer is increasingly being squeezed, not only by higher house prices, but also higher financing costs. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in the US currently sits at 4.15%, the highest level since the third quarter of 2014. In the past few months, the cost of borrowing on this 30-year term broke above resistance at 4% and has since been consolidating in what could be argued as a flag pattern. This bullish setup, which would be confirmed by a break above 4.30%, projects upside potential of at least half a percent, potentially targeting the highs charted six years ago. Double bottom support around 3.3%/3.4% hints at the conclusion to the long-term trend of declining rates that originated from the nosebleed levels of 1982 when rates exceeded 18%. While very unlikely that levels like that will be realized within the next couple of decades, the market should be prepared for mortgage rates of at least 5% in the next couple of years. Sentiment on Wednesday, as gauged by the put-call ratio, ended bullish at 0.89. Seasonal charts of companies reporting earnings today: S&P 500 Index TSE Composite