Housing Starts up 10%...Party On!

I just had to comment on this idiocy this morning.  CNBC has been jumping for joy all moring after the numbers below were announced:

"U.S. residential construction rose more than expected in August to a four-month high, suggesting the embattled housing market was starting to stabilize following the end of a homebuyer tax credit.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday housing starts rose 10.5 percent, the largest increase since November, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 598,000 units.


July's residential construction was revised down to show a 0.4 percent gain, which was previously reported as a 1.7 percent increase.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected housing starts to rise to a 550,000-unit rate. Compared to August last year, housing starts were up 2.2 percent.

"Housing starts are at very low levels but we're clearly seeing a solid bottom in the housing market. It's too early though to call it a housing market recovery," said Matthew Strauss, a senior currency strategist at RBC Capital in Toronto"

My Take:

Give me a second here so I can stop laughing at the highlighted quote above.

Are these people frickin insane????  We already have 12.5 months of inventory plus god knows how much shadow inventory.  Why in the hell are we building more houses given these facts?

Also, why is this number viewed as being bullish?  CNBC paraded this number around this morning like it was the holy grail that had just saved the economy.

I am amazed at how delusional people have become.  The media has become a total joke at this point.  Reporters should be calling the CEO's of these builders and asking them why in the hell they are building when inventories are at all time highs?

All they are doing is making a bad problem 10 times worse by adding to the insane backlog of homes that we already have.

This number should be ridiculed not heralded.

God, I wish I had the money to start up a network that reported the truth.  Bonds are up once again today as more and more people continue to walk away from the stock market.

Should it be any surprise when BS news like this is praised?

Ahhhhh...Feel better now after getting that off my chest.  I just heard one of the pumpers on CNBC ask why the market was down following the "great news" on the housing starts.

Ummmm...Let me take a stab at that one:  Because anyone with half a brain understands that this is very bad news and only exacerbates the troubles we have in housing.

Focus on the Fed later today.  If we get no additional QE outta the Fed(which is what I expect), then the market could sell off a bit because we are pretty oversold.  Many in the markets are looking for some additional QE juice in order to keep the rally going.