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A sharp increase in Housing Starts was indicated on Tuesday as Total Housing Starts rose 14.8% month-over-month for the November period from a 0.2% increase in October. The pick-up in growth can be partially attributed to lower costs of construction materials and home builders adjusting projects to accommodate the higher interest rate environment.

Financial market activity was dominated by the Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week. As expected at the December meeting, the FOMC voted unanimously to leave the federal funds rate unchanged at a target range of 5.25 – 5.50%.