Housing Starts At Lowest Level Since August Last Year; President Planning Golf Outing; Michelle Planning Next Vacation

The headline has been removed from the Yahoo!Finance site but earlier this a.m. the headline suggested that the housing numbers were nothing to get excited about. Apparently, Reuters or Yahoo!Finance re-thought that and re-wrote the headline, the lede.

It's pretty grim:

U.S. housing starts and permits for future home construction unexpectedly fell in June, offering further evidence of a sharp slowdown in economic activity in the second quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday housing starts dropped 9.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 836,000 units. That was the lowest level since August last year.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected groundbreaking to rise to a 959,000-unit rate last month. June's drop unwound the prior month's gains, suggesting a smaller boost from residential construction to second-quarter gross domestic product growth.

Look at the phrases used:

• unexpectely fell
• further evidence
• sharp slowdown in economic activiity
• dropped 9.9 percent (couldn't bear to say "almost 10%" or even simply "10%)
• lowest level since August last year

Analysts expected a rise of almost a million units; instead a drop of almost a million units -- in other words, a two-million-unit swing.

And then Ben suggested tapering might begin later this year. Really? Hello!