Here Comes The Fed? Housing Starts Fall, Jobless Claims Rise And “Inflation” Falls

Yesterday was a bad economic news day … and today continues the trend. Housing starts fell, initial jobless claims rose and “inflation” fell.

May 16 (Bloomberg) — Starts of new homes in the U.S. fell more than forecast in April to a five-month low, indicating a pause in the industry’s progress as builders slowed work on apartments. Building permits surged to an almost five-year high. Housing starts slumped 16.45 percent, the most since February 2011, to an 853,000 annualized rate after a revised 1.02 million pace in March.

The real jolt is the decline in multifamily starts of -37.77% for 5+ units.

But on the other hand, 5+ unit PERMITS rose 40.60%. Building permits overall rose 14.3%.

And the driver of housing – employment – took a turn down this morning. Initial jobless claims rose to 360,000, an increase of 32,000 from the previous week.

And the Consumer Price Index for Urban Dwellers fell 0.4% in April.

Finally, Bloomberg Consumer Comfort fell. It has not been above -20 since the recession started.

Look for The Fed to keep on rolling the dice!