It’s Over: Housing Starts; No It’s Not: Verizon Layoffs

WSJ:

New-home sales soared in June from the previous month, the third increase in a row and supplying fresh evidence the housing market is beginning to recover from its long crisis.

Sales of single-family homes increased by 11.0% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000 compared to the prior month, the Commerce Department said Monday. Though, year-over-year, new-home sales were 21.3% lower than the level in June 2008.

And the inventory of homes for sale fell to a more than 11-year low.

Reuters:

Verizon Communications Inc posted a lower quarterly profit and said it would cut 8,000 jobs in its wireline business, as weakness in wholesale and corporate segments overshadowed wireless growth.

Verizon, whose shares fell 2.6 percent on Monday morning, said it would accelerate cost cuts in its landline business, with new layoffs amounting to 3.4 percent of its workforce of 235,000 employees. They come on top of 8,000 job cuts in the last year.