Services Sector: Housing Market and Keith Lerner

services sector: But data on the housing market has been trending in the opposite direction, with new home construction rising to the fastest pace since 2007 in August, and pending home sales trending up as interest rates fall, improving affordability, according to Market Watch. Unlike some of the previous manufacturing slowdowns we've seen during recessions, U.S. housing is doing quite well, wrote Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at Sun Trust Advisory Services, in a Wednesday note to clients. Equity investors have been spooked by a series of bearish reports on the U.S. economy in October, including surveys from the Institute for Supply Management that show the American manufacturing sector contracting and the services sector slowing significantly, helping send Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 1.42% down 2.9%, the S&P 500 index SPX, 1.42% 2.4% and the Nasdaq 1.8% COMP, 1.40% month-to-date. In fact, the NAHB Home Builders Index has climbed to the highest level of the year. This is important as this indicator has peaked almost two years ahead of recessions, on average. Similarly, housing starts recently rose to a cycle high. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.