Just another confusing day!

How reassured should we be with today's better than expected housing starts figures? It adds to confusion more than anything else since it's data based on a single month (February in this case), it's highly sensitive to weather changes, and now, indirectly to the growing inventory of existing homes due to the jump in sub prime delinquencies. So as inventory expands (if it actually does is another matter), it will have a direct impact on home builders where pessimism is already rife if we take the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of sentiment at face value. There is still some debate going on regarding the actual state of the housing market and how much of a spillover effect we will end up having. This week and early next week should shed some light on this with the release of additional key housing figures and a couple of consumer confidence measures.