World Stock Markets At A Glance (US Stocks, Forex, Europe, Asia, and Metals)

US Stocks at a Glance

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks slid on Friday as a report pointing to further deterioration in housing added to recession fears, and offset reassuring profits from manufacturer Honeywell International Inc and Google Inc.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 234.88 points, or 2.62 percent, to 8,744.38. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 25.17 points, or 2.66 percent, to 921.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 45.28 points, or 2.64 percent, at 1,672.43.

US September housing starts fall 6.3% to a 817,000 unit rate, permits fall 8.3%

WASHINGTON - Housing starts dropped much more than expected in September due to new record lows for single-family housing starts in three out of four regions in the US, the Commerce Department said today.

Commerce said US September housing starts fell 6.3% to an annual rate of 817,000 units, the lowest rate since January 1991.

Economists polled by Thomson Reuters IFR Markets were expecting starts to drop to an annual rate of 880,000.

Housing starts are down 31.1% from September 2007. New construction of single-family homes, a better and more stable indicator of new home trends, fell 12.0% in the month to an annual rate of 544,000 units. That’s the slowest pace since February 1982, and the largest monthly decline since October 2006.

Single family housing starts hit record low levels in the Northeast, West and Midwest, and starts in the South hit a low not seen since January 1991. Starts of homes for five or more families rose 5.8% in the month to an annual rate of 254,000.

Total housing starts in the Northeast fell 20.9% and fell 16.8% in the West, but rose in the South by 0.5% and rose 5.6% in the Midwest.

New building permits in September were down 8.3% to an annual rate of 786,000 units from the upwardly revised 857,000 reported in August. Economists were expecting a 850,000 annual rate for building permits in September.

Single-family permits fell 3.8% to 532,000 annual units, the lowest level seen since August 1982. Permits for buildings with five units or more fell 17.6% to 225,000 annual units.

Homes still under construction fell 2.7% overall, and fell 4.4% for single-family homes. The number of homes completed in the month rose 11.7%, and single-family homes completed rose 17.0%.