Housing Starts Fall, Industrial Output Slips

Builders broke ground on new homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.65 million units, down 2.7% from a booming October but still at a hearty pace, Commerce Department figures showed. All of the drop in housing starts was for apartments, a less significant part of the building industry than single-family homes, which rose 5% to a near 15-year high of 1.35 million. Separately, the Federal Reserve said industrial production eased 0.3% after rising 0.2% in October. For a second straight month, utilities sharply trimmed output because of reduced heating needs as businesses overall ran at their slowest operating rate in more than five years. The nation’s mines, factories and utilities ran at 80.6% of capacity last month, the lowest since a matching rate in August 1993, the Fed said. It was the third month in a row in which operating rates slackened as exports to weakened economies abroad suffered.