The Quikrete Industry Dashboard

A bull market is reshaping the HBSDealer Stock Watch. All ten of the ticker symbols tracked by the Quikrete Industry Dashboard are in positive territory for the month and the year, as the Dow Jones Industrial average crossed the 37,000 mark this week for the first time ever. 

Leading the charge on the stock chart is Builder FirstSource, up 25 percent for the month and up 146 percent compared to a year ago. Seven other companies were up double digits for the year, and five others were up double digits for the month.

Elsewhere on the Dashboard, gas prices slipped to a national average of $3.09 for a gallon of regular, according to the tally from the American Automobile Association.

And on Thursday, the U.S. Census Bureau released its Advanced Monthly Sales report showing a decline for retailers classified as building material and lawn and garden equipment and supplies (NAICS 444) in November.  At an unadjusted $39.95 billion, NAICS 444 sales were down 2.4% compared to the November 2022 figure of $40.93 billion.

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Coming next: Residential construction numbers for November will be released on Dec. 19, followed a day later by existing home sales. In October, total housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,372,000, which marked a 1.9 percent increase over the prior month.