Lumber Tariff Blues - 2003-02-01
Feeling good about cheaper lumber prices? Don't get too used to the idea. The value-added wood industry hopes to alter what it sees as bad trade policy. Several mills in the United States closed last fall, and some companies blame the new, 27 percent duty on Canadian softwood lumber imports.

For builders, it's not yet clear which position promises long-term, stable lumber prices in light of a strong housing market helped by low mortgage rates. Stay tuned for future developments.
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Seiders Economy: Remarkable Performance - 2003-02-01
Home sales and single-family starts were remarkably robust during the economic recession of 2001 and the tepid recovery of 2002.

Indeed, Federal Reserve data show that housing equity was a good bit higher in late 2002 than a year earlier, despite the rapid growth in home mortgage debt, as a combination of very large capital gains and sizeable net purchases powered the market value of household real estate to higher and higher records.
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