New Home sales plunged 4.7% in December to the lowest levels in 13 years.  Even more amazing is that the median price fell over 10%, sequentially!  That is unheard of.  Inventories also continued to increase which means the bottom is not quite here, maybe in next 12 months though.   I do not think we are going to work through these inventories quickly because lending standards are so tough.  While the interest rates are making houses attractive to the consumer, lenders are making it real hard to get a loan, as they should.

In other news, one our stock picks, MTL was sold for a 18% gain today in about a week of holding the position.  This is certainly not our usual procedure for holding stocks, we got lucky on one actually.  Luck, qualified with a long term view on a stocks sometimes translates to insitutions seeing the bargain at the same time we do, translating to a quick gain.  Not the way we invest, but as the saying goes;  we'll take it.