US new home sales and durable goods orders rebound weakly

US economic data on Wednesday were mixed.

New home sales rose 7.9 percent in August. This still left the annual sales rate at 421,000 after the 14.1 percent plunge in sales in July, and is less than the average 446,000 rate in the first six months of 2013.

Durable goods orders showed hardly any rebound in August, rising just 0.1 percent after having plunged 8.1 percent in July. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft rose 1.5 percent after having fallen 3.3 percent in July.

Meanwhile, the risk of a government shutdown was made stark on Wednesday by US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who warned Congress that the government would exhaust its borrowing capacity no later than October 17.