Housing Starts & Sentiment down. Industrial Production up.
Housing Starts (December 2013)
– Starts seasonally adjusted, annualized 999,000. Previous month was 1,107,000
– Permits seasonally adjusted, annualized 986,000. Previous month was 1,017,000.
The decline is in both single-family and multi-family. “Single-family” is anything which is 1-4 units. Multi-family is 5 units and up. The report from the Census Bureau states that an estimated 923,400 housing units were started in 2013. To keep pace with population growth and assuming a constant level of people per household we should have about 1,500,000 Housing Starts per year.
Industrial Production (November 2013)
– Production Month/Month +0.3%. Previous was +1.0%
– Capacity Utilization Rate 79.2%. Previous was 79.1%.
Manufacturing has been on a healthy path of growth lately.
Consumer Sentiment (January 2014)
– Sentiment 80.4. Previous was 82.5.
This is the University of Michigan survey. Consumer Sentiment is supposed to be a leading indicator of Consumer Spending.