FINANCIAL TIMES: …US industrial production has risen the most for a month in more than a year, boosted by surging demand in April for cars and utility output.
Housing starts rose 2.6 per cent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 717,000, while March’s figures were revised higher to 699,000, the commerce department said. The reading was better than the 685,000 expected by economists.
The housing market, the sector that precipitated the financial crisis and which has been plagued by an oversupply of unsold homes and properties in foreclosure, has begun to show signs of a slow recovery after almost six years of decline. April’s starts were nearly 30 per cent higher than a year ago but new construction is still well below its pre-crisis peak of January 2006… (more)
