Opening Look: Housing Starts Bounce Back In February

The market is getting a small bounce in early trading, after yesterday's surprisingly strong day. Yesterday had all the makings of a solid follow through day, but volume came in far too light. I would prefer to see higher volume on the up days.

Asian markets were up again in overnight trading. The Bank of Japan did not raise rates at its meeting. And ACS is being taken private, boosting the stock +18% this morning.

The big piece of data this morning was housing starts, which showed a big tumble in January (-14%). But housing starts bounced back +9% in February, slightly above estimates. This should help ease housing fears a bit.

Of course, the Fed kicks off its 2-day meeting today. Investors are hoping for some softer language from the FOMC in its announcement tomorrow. If the Fed wants to help the housing market, it needs to keep liquidity high. But don't expect them to act immediately or make overt comments about housing.

Oil is down again, and today is testing the $56.50 level. The USO is at its 50-day support, so this area bears watching. The 10-year yield is down a few basis points to 4.54%.