Route Transportation & Logistics, Inc. Newsletter 
Toll Free 877-241-7607February 16th, 2012   
In This Issue
Housing Starts Rise
$100 a Barrel
NY Mfg. Index Jumps
Featured Article

 Housing Starts Rise in January
 
  Housing starts increased 1.5% in January, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
 

Starts rose to an annual rate of 699,000 units, from a revised 689,000 in December that was larger than originally reported.

 

The January rate surpassed economists' forecasts of a 675,000 rate, Bloomberg reported.

 

Building permits, an indicator of future construction, increased 0.7% to 676,000.

 

Single-family home starts, which account for about 85% of the total, slipped 1% to a 508,000 rate after jumping 12% the previous month.

 

Work on multifamily units, which is often more volatile, climbed 8.5% to an annual rate of 191,000.

 

Starts rose in three of four national regions, led by an 18% gain in the South and a 12% increase in the West.

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Oil Holds Over $100 a Barrel
  

Oil slipped from a five-week high but remained over $100 for a fourth day in early trading Thursday, Bloomberg reported.

 

Crude futures slipped about 75 cents to near $101 a barrel after closing at a five-month high $101.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday, Bloomberg said.

 

This week marked the first time since the first week in January oil has closed over $100 every trading day. Crude has not finished over that level for a full five-day, non-holiday week, since late April.

 

New York Mfg. Index Jumps
 
Manufacturing activity in the New York region expanded in February at the fastest rate since June 2010, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Wednesday.

 

The regional Fed's "Empire State Index," generally the first economic indicator in a given month, jumped to a 19.5 reading, from 13.5 in January, the regional Fed said.

 

Readings above zero indicate expansion. The February reading surpassed economists' forecasts of a 15 reading, Bloomberg reported.

 

Manufacturing is one of trucking's largest and most important customers.

 
 

 

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