Housing Starts increased 5.3% from last month as builders take advantage of the warmer weather.  Jobless Claims were down 5.5% this week showing that fewer people were laid off, fired, right sized, or furloughed over the last seven days. MBS are down 23 bps and just hanging on above the 100 day moving average, which serves as a new floor of support.

Those two bits should be favorable to the stock market because they show that the economy is picking up.  Instead, the S&P remained pretty flat, closing with a one point loss. Yet another indication of the importance that all markets are placing on the hope of lower interest rates.