Housing Starts Declining, Trouble Ahead?

We had an unexpected big drop in housing starts. This is the third month in a row that the starts are down but not only where housing starts way down but building permits were also way down so that means that this trend is likely to continue. The last time we had three consecutive monthly declines it was in 2009. What was going on in 2009? Oh, the greatest recession since the Great Depression! (KB Home (NYSE:KBH), Lennar Corporation (LEN), SPDR S&P Homebuilders (ETF) (XHB), D.R. Horton (DHI))

A Hawkish Federal Reserve

We actually got a hawkish hike not only did the Federal Reserve raise rates but they did nothing to dampen expectations for future interest rate hikes. In fact Janet Yellen in her prepared remarks and in the press conference that followed was very upbeat, very optimistic on the economy not worried about anything and no longer talking about the need for some kind of confirmation that prior economic weakness was transitory. She thinks that it's clear skies as far as the eye can see.

Big Reversal In Bitcoin

It wasn't just the stock market that had big reversals I guess it was the crypto currencies as well particularly Bitcoin. You know, I mentioned the last couple of times that I was talking about Bitcoin and the kryptos, the shrinking market share that Bitcoin had in the crypto world and that continues right now. The market cap of Bitcoin is now down to about 40 percent of the total market cap of all the crypto currencies.