Is the rising economic anxiety taking a toll on the housing industry… again? The answer depends on the data set you’re looking at. Housing starts fell nearly 5% last month vs. April’s tally, the Census Bureau reports. But newly issued building permits jumped by almost 8% in May to the highest level since September 2008. That’s a sign that housing starts will stay firm if not rise in the months ahead. As economist Richard Yamarone writes in The Trader’s Guide to Key Economic Indicators: “Economists have found that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits generally precede housing starts by about one month and sales by three.”

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Fiscal-Cliff Concerns Hurting Economy as Companies Hold Back
Bloomberg | June 19
Companies are starting to delay hiring and spending out of concern that Congress won’t reach a compromise in time to avoid automatic tax increases and budget cuts that would pull billions of dollars of purchasing power out of the economy. Faced with a so-called fiscal cliff of more than $600 billion in higher taxes and reductions in defense and other government programs in 2013, U.S. companies are pulling back, though the deadline for congressional action is more than six months away.

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