Stock Market Update

The S&P 500 futures are up 17 points and are trading 0.3% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 43 points and are trading 0.3% above fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 179 points and are trading 0.4% above fair value.

Earlier, the weekly MBA Mortgage Applications Index dropped 0.7% with purchase applications increasing 1% while refinance applications fell 6%.

Just in, housing starts totaled 1.289 million in November (Briefing.com consensus 1.365 million) following a revised 1.312 million (from 1.311 million). Building permits totaled 1.505 million in November (Briefing.com consensus 1.45) following a revised 1.419 million (from 1.416 million).

Current account balances declined to -$310.9 billion in Q3 (Briefing.com consensus -$283.0 billion) from -$266.8 billion.