Daily Data Flow: Cyprus Crisis Hits U.S. Stocks; Housing Rebound Can Go Further; Bank of Japan Commits to Quantitative Easing

Cyprus Crisis Lowers U.S. Stocks (Bloomberg)
A levy to be imposed on banks in the European island of Cyprus renewed fears on the euro zone’s debt crisis, causing investors some concern and triggering falling stocks in the United States today. “We’ve had a wonderful market and somewhat carefree attitude,” Richard Sichel, chief investment officer at Philadelphia Trust Co., said. “Now here’s sort of a dose of reality, and although it’s such a small country, but what they’re doing sort of sends shivers through investors and other countries.”

Housing Rebound Still Has Room to Rise (CNBC)
While the U.S. housing market has been rebounding as of late, it still has a long journey before it reaches normal pre-crash levels. “Our business has been strong,” said Meritage Homes CEO Steven Hilton. “We’ve had very brisk traffic and sales activity across all our communities.” He continued, “Supply is very low in most of the markets we build in… Demand is strong, and affordability is the highest point it’s been almost ever.”

Bank of Japan Commits to Quantitative Easing (Reuters)
While the Bank of Japan will have a new governor soon, the bank today reappointed Masayoshi Amamiya, a strong supporter of quantitative easing, to a key post overseeing monetary policy. “Amamiya is the architect of many of the BOJ’s existing policy frameworks. His return now may be to review them and prepare for an overhaul in time for the BOJ’s next rate review in April,” said Yasuhide Yajima, chief economist at NLI Research Institute in Tokyo.