Afternoon Markets: Dow lifts as housing market picks up

US stocks have made modest gains this morning, with the Dow Jones up 51.43 points (0.59%) to 8,772.8...

US stocks have made modest gains this morning, with the Dow Jones up 51.43 points (0.59%) to 8,772.87, as a report issued by The National Association of Realtors revealed pending sales of US homes (excluding new-builds) in April have seen their biggest monthly gain in seven-and-a-half years. However, financials suffered as JPMorgan Chase and American Express announced plans to raise at least $7.7bn to meet the capital requirements imposed by the Federal Reserve, with the former down 2.55% to 35.19 cents and the latter sinking 4.27% to 24.88 cents. Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 remained in the...