Patrick Fearon Consistent Quotations

The housing starts figure coming in down 5.6 percent was weaker than expected and seems consistent with our thesis that the housing sector is moderating. The big decline in housing permits reinforces that idea.

The service sector of the economy is still growing at a good pace and that is consistent with what we were seeing in the employment report for November.

There was decent strength across the retail sector. These numbers are consistent with an economy growing at a comfortable rate, a pace that would allow the Fed to continue to raise interest rates in a measured fashion.

The drop in jobless claims is a darn good number. A number in the range of 325,000 to 350,000 is a level that is more consistent with healthy economic growth,

This is consistent with our view that the housing market is likely to continue to moderate in the coming months. But ... home sales are historically pretty strong.