As always, I recommend taking the supermarket approach ...
Meaning - take what you need and leave the rest.
The same applies with the minutes of the Federal Reserve Meeting that were recently released. Below are a few blurbs that caught my attention ...
Residential construction activity remained quite weak late last year, but home sales showed some tentative signs of stabilization. Single-family housing starts declined modestly in December, reversing about half of November's gain.Now might be a good time to take a gander (slang) at a video I had posted not too long ago here regarding questions that have been raised about the FED's role in the U.S. economy.
However, new permit issuance edged up in December after having moved down steadily for nearly a year. Construction in the multifamily sector, which accounts for a much smaller share of new home construction, rose sharply in December to the upper end of the range that has prevailed over the past decade. Sales of existing single-family homes held steady in November and rose in December, while sales of new homes inched up in both months.
Inventories of unsold homes remained considerable although they ticked down in December for the second straight month. The most timely indicators of home prices, which are not adjusted for changes in quality or the mix of homes sold, pointed to small declines.
At its December meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided to maintain its target for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 percent. The Committee's accompanying statement noted that economic growth had slowed over the course of the year, partly reflecting a substantial cooling of the housing market.
In the household sector, the ongoing deceleration in house prices further restrained the growth of home mortgage debt.
However, with the contraction in housing activity expected to abate this year, the pace of economic growth was anticipated to edge back up to a level that was close to the staff's estimate of potential output growth by the end of 2007 and to remain in that same range throughout 2008.
In their discussion of the major sectors of the economy, participants noted that the housing market showed tentative signs of stabilization in most regions.
Mortgage applications for home purchases had risen from their low levels of last summer. Sentiment among homebuilders reportedly had improved in the past few months, and the inventory of new homes for sale had fallen. Nonetheless, participants noted that inventories remained elevated and needed to be worked down before growth in this sector resumed.
Unseasonably warm weather so far this winter complicated the interpretation of recent data, but participants were optimistic that the risk of a much larger contraction in housing had diminished and that the drag on growth from the housing sector would ease later this year.
Remember to use the supermarket approach.
