Housing Hooray

With manufacturing, capital spending by firms, transportation, agriculture, and energy all weak, the relatively good October housing starts were particularly pleasing. Starts were up 8.5% Y-o-Y, are at their second-best level since 5/18, and single-family starts have been rising since May. Multifamily has been essentially flat for five years. YTD starts are still down -0.6% but should end 2019 up slightly and boost 2019 GDP by a tad.