The Quikrete Industry Dashboard

It was a busy week of macroeconomic statistic, reflected In the latest Quikrete Industry Dashboard with March updates for retail sales, residential construction and existing-home sales.

For the most part, the numbers dipped.

Existing-home sales tracked by the National Association of Realtors declined 4.3 percent from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.19 million.

“Though rebounding from cyclical lows, home sales are stuck because interest rates have not made any major moves,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

Single-family starts and total starts both declined compared to a strong, upwardly revised reading in February. Total starts for March were at a rate of 1.321 million. On a monthly basis, single-family starts declined 12.4 percent to a rate of 1.022 million

And sales of retailers in the NAICS 444 classification (building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers) showed a 7.3 percent year-over-year decline in March.

Elsewhere on the Quikrete Industry Dashboard, the stock chart shows Builders FirstSource continuing to set the pace on Wall Street — up 88.5 percent for the year (but down 6.6 percent for the month). Shares of Beacon were 55.2 percent for the year, based on April 18 prices.

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Coming next: The Conference Board will update Consumer Confidence Index on Tuesday, April 30.