Some economic numbers are out this morning. "Construction spending rose to a record level in February as home building hit an all-time high despite a weakening in home sales, the government said Monday."

"Economists believe the housing sector, which has been booming for the past five years, will slow gradually this year under the impact of rising mortgage rates and slowing sales. New home sales posted a big decline in February while sales of existing homes have been down five of the past six months."

And the pending home sales data. "Pending home sales are showing signs of leveling out, indicating that the housing market is entering a period of stabilization, according to the NAR. The Pending Home Sales Index,* based on contracts signed in February, slipped 0.8 percent to a level of 117.7 from an upwardly revised index of 118.6 in January, and is 5.2 percent below February 2005. David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said most of the cooling in the housing market has already occurred."

"'We can expect a historically strong housing market moving forward, earmarked by generally balanced conditions across the country and fairly stable levels of home sales with some month-to-month fluctuations,' he said. 'This normalization is healthy because it is taking a lot of the pressure off of the decision process for both home buyers and sellers, pressure that was driving abnormal rates of price growth across much of the country over the last few years.'"

"Regionally, the PHSI in the Northeast jumped 6.8 percent in February to 107.9 but was 1.2 percent below February 2005. In the Midwest, the index held even at 114.3 and was 6.0 percent below a year ago. The index in the South slipped 0.1 percent to 129.3 in February and was also 0.1 percent lower than February 2005. The index in the West fell 7.6 percent to a level of 110.9 in February and was 14.8 percent below a year ago."

"Yield on benchmark U.S. Treasury debt climbed through 4.905 percent early on Monday to the highest since June 2002 amid general expectations the Federal Reserve Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates. Benchmark 10-year notes were down 13/32 in price for a yield of 4.907 early on Monday from 4.853 percent late on Friday. Bond yields move inversely to prices."