Stock Market Update

Equity futures continue to point to a lower opening this morning as semiconductor stocks retreat after yesterday's highs against a backdrop of higher oil prices and Treasury yields.

Housing starts declined 12.4% month-over-month in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.239 million (Briefing.com consensus: 1.360 million). Single-unit starts were down in every region of the country. Building permits increased 5.0% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.443 million (Briefing.com consensus: 1.390 million). The good news there is that permits for single units—a leading indicator—were up 2.5% month-over-month.

The key takeaway from the report, though, is the broad-based weakness in single-unit starts seen in July, which is a month that featured rising interest rates that increased the cost of financing.

Just released, industrial production increased 0.2% month-over-month in July (Briefing.com consensus: 0.3%) following an upwardly revised 0.3% increase in June (from 0.1%).

The capacity utilization rate was 76.3% (Briefing.com consensus: 76.3%), up from an upwardly revised 76.2% (from 76.1%) in June.