STOCKS GO NOWHERE: Here's What You Need To Know

A surprisingly strong housing market report wasn't the catalyst that would get stocks to hit new record highs.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 16,197.0 (+17.3, +0.1%)
• S&P 500: 1,844.8 (-0.2, -0.0%)
• Nasdaq: 4,289.3 (+1.7, +0.0%)

And now the top stories:

• The stock market effectively went sideways today. Still, it's only a few points away from Monday's intraday record high of 1,858.7.
• New home sales unexpectedly surged 9.6% to an annualized rate of 468,000 units. This is a five-and-a-half-year high. Economists were expecting a decline. "The January US new home sales report is consistent with the idea that foot traffic may have slowed somewhat and adverse weather across much of the eastern portion of the US may have reduced housing activity, but underlying demand and buying intentions have remained healthy, and we expect any drop-off in housing to be a pause and not a retrenchment," said Barclays' Michael Gapen.
• But Morgan Stanley's Ted Wieseman cautioned against betting the house on this number. "Any consideration of new home sales has to keep in mind that these data are badly measured, with the standard error on the monthly percent change having reached an astronomical +/- 17.9%," he said. In other words, the Census Bureau is 90% sure the actual change was somewhere between -8.3% and +27.5%.
• According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage purchase applications fell 8.5% during the week ending Feb. 21. This was an acceleration from the 4.1% decline the week prior.
• Don't Miss: Here Are The Top 10 Emerging Technologies For 2014 »