According to Pan Pylas of the North County Times, European and U.S. stocks had been trading flat until figures from the Commerce Department showed new homes sales in the U.S. jumped a massive 23.6 percent in June to an annual rate of 330,000. The latest figures helped shore up confidence about the U.S. housing market after a raft of data pointed to renewed weakness_ the property market was one of the main reasons behind the global recession and the financial crisis. To find out more about the affect U.S. housing data had on Wall Street, click here for the full article.