Contracts to buy U.S. previously owned homes unexpectedly increased in May after declining for six straight months, but higher mortgage rates are cooling demand for housing.  The National Association of Realtors said their Pending Home Sales Index, based on signed contracts, rose 0.7% last month, rebounding from a two-year low in April. Pending home sales increased in the Northeast and the densely populated South, but fell in the West and Midwest. The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased last week to more than a 13-1/2-year high of 5.81%, from 5.78% in the prior week.

New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods increased by more than expected in the month of May, according to a report released by the Commerce Department.  The report showed durable goods orders climbed by 0.7 percent in May after rising by 0.4 percent in April.

Russia has entered its first major foreign debt default for over a century, after a grace period on two international bond payments lapsed on Sunday night.  Interest payments totaling $100 million were due on May 27 and subject to a grace period which expired on Sunday night.  Several media outlets have reported that bondholders have not received the payments, after Russia’s attempts to pay in its ruble currency were blocked by international sanctions.