Shares of home builders were broadly higher Friday, as the continued drop in longer-term Treasury yields helped soothe some fears about home affordability. The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ITB, +4.10% ran up 4.3% with all 47 equity components trading higher, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.57% edged up 0.7%. PulteGroup Inc. PHM, +6.78% was the biggest gainer of the group, rallying 7.0%, which would be the biggest one-day percentage gain since it surged 7.4% on Nov. 4, 2020. Among the sector ETF’s other more-active components, shares of Lennar Corp. LEN, +5.04% climbed 5.2%, D.R. Horton Inc. DHI, +5.17% hiked up 5.4%, Builders FirstSource Inc. BLDR, +6.01% surged 6.4% and KB Home KBH, +4.29% tacked on 4.4%. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note TMUBMUSD10Y, 2.894% fell 8.4 basis points (0.084 percentage points) to a one-month low of 2.888%, and has dropped 59.5 basis points since it closed at an 11-year high of 3.483 on June 14, amid growing concerns over a possible recession. Meanwhile, lower Treasury yields lead to lower mortgage rates, which also lowers the cost of buying a home. Elsewhere, real estate services company Redfin Corp.’s stock RDFN, +9.16% soared 8.6% on Friday.
