Jobless Claims continue high, U.S. Industrial Production (factories, mines, and utilities) was -0.7%, twice as weak as anticipated by economists, and capacity utilization, which measures the proportion of plants in use, fell to 79.7 percent, the lowest since September 2005. Lastly yesterday we had the Philadelphia Fed Index come out at -15.6 in May, better than forecast, from -24.9 in April. ( Readings less than zero signal contraction.)
Today we had Housing Starts increase by 8.2%, but the increase is entirely due to multi-family homes, up by 36%. In contrast, single family starts fell by another 1.7%, albeit from an upward-revised base. This follows the large decline last month, when starts fell by 13.8%, and year-over-year starts are down 30.6% - no surprise given the inventory levels that are out there. Building Permits were up, and single family permits rose by 4.0%, the first rise in a while. After it we have the 10-yr sitting at 3.87%.
