This morning’s US economic updates on housing construction and industrial output—the final batch of numbers ahead of this afternoon’s monetary announcement from the Federal Reserve—delivered a mixed bag of macro news, albeit with a moderately positive spin. The main takeaway: industrial production is still contracting at the headline level but manufacturing is expanding at a faster rate. On the housing front, new residential construction continues to trend higher. Overall, the numbers offer support for expecting moderate economic growth in the near-term future.
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If the crowd’s worried about the possibility of rising interest rates, the anxiety isn’t showing up in utility stocks. This interest-rate sensitive corner of equities is comfortably in the lead among US sectors, based on a set of ETF proxies.
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● Weak US Retail Sales In Feb Raise Concern About Growth | NY Times
● NY Fed factory index has first positive reading in 8 months | MarketWatch
● US Wholesale Inventories Unexpectedly Rise 0.3% In Jan | RTT
● US home builder sentiment holds steady in Mar | CNBC
● US Redbook YoY retail sales index virtually flat in 2nd wk of Mar | TE
● China’s Li pledges more reform, tries to reassure on growth | WaPo
● Fed to Signal Worst Is Over, Hikes Coming | Bloomberg