Afternoon Note
The markets are down slightly as the rubbernecking of confirmation hearings take place. Especially controversial today is the nomination of Steve Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary. The former Goldman Sachs partner and former Chairman (co-owner) of OneWest Bank (bought the failing IndyMac for $1.6 billion and sold to CIT Group in 2015 for $3.4 billion) is being grilled by the Senate Finance Committee, especially by the Democrats, on the aggressive foreclosure and reverse mortgage lending practice. In his prepared comments, Mnuchin stated "Since I was first nominated to serve as Treasury Secretary, I have been maligned as taking advantage of others' hardships in order to earn a buck. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Speaking of housing, homebuilding rebounded in December with starts surging 11.3%, to 1.226 million, the second-highest pace of the recovery. Permits were down 0.2% from November, however single family permits were up 4.7% in December, and up 10.7% from the prior year period. After years of growth in multi-family housing, the need and opportunity for home builders is in single family homes, especially for the first time home buyer. While starts for multi-family homes surged in December, overall permits for single family homes is where the action is. Housing supply is extremely low and is helping drive prices higher.
Not only did housing surge, jobless claims declined 15,000 to 234,000. The 4-week moving average, a better gauge, decreased 10,250 to 246,750. This is the lowest level since November 3, 1973, when it was 244,000.
The markets have been trading sideways, but are currently all down slightly, ahead of the inauguration tomorrow of Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States. Decliners lead advancers 2217 to 683 on the NYSE and 2010 to 825 on the Nasdaq. Oil has given up much of its earlier gains as the EIA report showed crude oil had a build of 2.3 million barrels versus the estimate for a draw-down of 0.342 barrels. WTI is currently trading at $51.25.
Comments |
God bless America. We get our country back from the micro-manager anti-capitalists!!!!! Ray Weldon on 1/19/2017 2:01:09 PM |
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