# Thursday's Economic Data Signals a Growing Economy

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Last modified: 2021-01-22

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By Paul Ebeling · 2021-01-22
Tags: Shayne Heffernan on Investments, Stocks, stocks, economy, DJIA, growth, AMZN, FB, DIA, SPY, QQQ, VXX, Bullish, AAPL, economic, home, sales, housing, permits, Headline News
Signed: no (published before platform launch).
Nothing in this article is investment advice.

#economic #growth #housing #emplyment #mega-cap #stocks

$DIA $SPY $QQQ $RUTX $VXX

Thursday's action drew support from a *better-than-expected* housing starts and building permits report for December.

The NAS Comp (+0.6%) and S&P 500 (+0.03%) finished at fresh record highs Thursday on the strength in several Mega-caps 

Apple ([NASDAQ:AAPL](NASDAQ:AAPL)) 136.87, +4.84, or +3.7% was the most influential mover on the day aided by a price-target increase to 152 from 144 at Morgan Stanley. 

Amazon ([NASDAQ:AMZN](NASDAQ:AMZN)) 3306.99, +43.61, or +1.3%, and Facebook ([NASDAQ:FB](NASDAQ:FB))** **272.87, +5.39, or +2.0%) joined in as the Mega-cap leaders and extended their weekly gainers to between 6-8%. 

The iShares US Home Construction ETF ([NYSEArcs:ITB](NYSEArcs:ITB)) 61.38, +0.90, or +1.5% and Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (+1.5%) closed at record highs.

 The US Dollar Index (.DXY) declined 0.4% to 90.08. WTI Crude Oil futures declined 0.3%, or 0.16, to 53.12bbl.

US Housing starts increased 5.8% m/m in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.669-M the strongest start since September 2006. 

Building permits rose 4.5% M-M to 1.709-M ) the strongest pace since August 2006.

The Key takeaway from the report is the growth was driven entirely by single-unit dwellings.

The Philly Fed Index jumped to 26.5 in January from an upwardly revised 9.1 in December from 8.5.

Thursday, the benchmark US stock market indexes finished at: DJIA -12.37 to 31176.01, NAS Comp +73.67 at 13530.92, S&P 500 +1.22 at 3853.07

Volume: Trade on the NYSE came in at: 890-M/shares exchanged.

HeffX-LTN's overall technical outlook of the major US stock market indexes is Bullish with a Very Bullish bias in here.

- Russell 2000 +8.4% YTD
- NAS Comp +5.0% YTD
- S&P 500 +2.6% YTD
- DJIA +1.9% YTD

Looking Ahead: Investors will receive Existing Home Sales for December and the flash IHS Markit Manufacturing and Services PMIs for January Friday.

Have a healthy weekend, Keep the Faith!

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