Al's Morning Meeting

This week's economic indicators include December housing starts and building permit figures, which will be released Thursday morning. This won't be pretty news.

Housing starts can be important for many reasons. There are the more obvious stories about construction jobs, but there are also many stories worth telling about how suppliers of lumber, roofing, wiring and PVC are doing.

Counties depend on housing starts, too, because they generate lots of permit fees. New houses are taxed at their new appraisal rate. New houses need refrigerators, stoves and entertainment centers that have to come from somewhere. Housing starts are a precursor to retail spending. When you build a new home (rather than moving into an existing home) you almost always equip it with new appliances.  Housing starts are important to the appliance world and are an indicator not only of the present, but of what is to come.