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By Matthew
Klein | Friday, April 16 Build
It. The
latest U.S. economic data continue to show a consumer sector that’s firing on
all cylinders. After yesterday’s blockbuster
retail and food service spending numbers, the Census
Bureau today published its latest reading of the
housing market, which continued the trend of good news. Construction
started on more new
housing units in March 2021 than in any March since 2006. The
number of homes currently under construction is only 8% below the bubble-era
high, while the number of completed homes hitting the market just hit its
highest level since early 2007. The number of permits filed for multifamily
units in the first quarter hit its highest level since 1986. The strong
data over the past few days prompted IHS
Markit to update its first-quarter GDP
forecast growth by almost a full percentage point at a yearly rate. Investors
took the good news in stride. The S&P
500 index
of large companies rose 0.4% to hit its 23rd record high for 2021, while the Russell
2000 index of small-cap stocks rose 0.2%. Bond
yields, which had been on a relentless upward march earlier in the year, were
basically flat. Compared with their recent highs, the 10-year and
30-year U.S. Treasury yields are both down about 0.2 percentage points. Within the
S&P, 355 stocks were up, as were all of the industry sectors except for
energy, which was down 0.8%, and communication services and technology, which
were flat. The best performing sectors were materials, utilities, consumer
discretionary, healthcare, and financials. But the biggest winners of the day
were the ones most exposed to the U.S. housing boom, including PPG
Industries, Sherwin-Williams, D.R.
Horton, NVR, and Lennar. The worst
performers of the day were dominated by oil companies, including EOG
Resources, Marathon
Oil, Pioneer
Natural Resources, Devon
Energy, Diamondback
Energy, Occidental
Petroleum, Halliburton, Hess, Cabot
Oil & Gas, ConocoPhillips, and APA. The price
of oil itself barely budged on Friday, although it was down slightly. So far
this year, both the price of oil and the prices of oil company stocks are
both up about 30%. Investors
outside the U.S. were also optimistic, with stocks up almost everywhere in
the world. New records were set in Canada’s TSX and in the STOXX
Europe 600. Watch our
weekly TV show on Fox Business Fridays at 10 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. ET; Saturdays
at 10 a.m. or 11:30 a.m.; or Sundays at 7 a.m., 10 a.m., or 11:30 a.m. This
week, an interview with Okta CEO Todd
McKinnon. |
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DJIA: +0.48% to 34,200.67 The Hot
Stock: PPG Industries +8.7% Best Sector:
Materials +1.2%
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