Quikrete Industry Dashboard: Starting up

The Quikrete Industry Dashboard had an active week, with new data shedding light on residential construction, monthly sales, stocks and gas prices.

For the most part, things are moving up.

The Commerce Department estimated that monthly sales for the hardware and building supply retail category (NAICS 444) increased to $43.8 billion – up 32% from the same month a year ago. 

Housing starts jumped dramatically – to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.739 million. That’s the highest monthly SAAR since June of 2006. 

The Stock Roundup includes some gaudy growth numbers also. Five stocks – BECN, BLDR, DE, LOW and WY are all up more than 100% since this time last year. BLDR leads the chart, up 274.5%.

Elsewhere on the Quikrete Industry Dashboard, gas prices leveled off this week at $2.87 per gallon of regular, according to the AAA. That’s the same as the prior month. 

Coming April 22: The National Association of Realtors will release stats on existing home sales.