Jan. housing starts rise 1.5% to 699,000 rate (by Ruth Mantell)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- New construction of U.S. houses rose 1.5% in January, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 699,000, according to a Thursday estimate from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a rate of 688,000 housing starts for January, with unseasonably warm weather boosting results. In December the rate reached 689,000, compared with a prior estimate of 657,000. Single-family housing starts fell 1% in January to a rate of 508,000. Meanwhile, starts in buildings with at least five units rose 14.4% to a rate of 175,000. Despite some gains, analysts note that housing data remains at relatively low levels, and the market faces a lengthy recovery.

U.S. weekly jobless claims drop 13,000 to 348,000 (by Jeffry Bartash)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Weekly jobless claims in the U.S. fell by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000 in the week ended Feb. 11, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's the lowest level since March 2008, when the U.S. was in the early stages of a recession. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch estimated claims would total 368,000. Claims from two weeks ago were revised up to 361,000 from 358,000. The four-week average of claims, meanwhile, fell by a smaller 1,750 to 365,250, keeping it near a four-year low. The monthly average smoothes out seasonal quirks and provides a more accurate view of labor-market trends, economists say. Continuing claims decreased by 100,000 to a seasonally adjusted 3.43 million in the week ended Feb. 4. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag. About 7.68 million people received some kind of state or federal benefit in the week ended Jan. 28, up 18,304 from the prior week. Total claims are reported with a two-week lag and are not seasonally adjusted.

U.S. wholesale prices rise 0.1% in January (by Jeffry Bartash)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - U.S. wholesale prices rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in January, spurred by higher costs of pharmaceutical drugs, light trucks and appliances, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had predicted a 0.5% increase, largely because of rising gasoline prices. Yet a 2% increase in wholesale gasoline prices was more than offset by a drop in the cost of electricity and home-heating fuels, a result of unseasonably warm winter weather. Overall energy costs fell 0.5% in January. The wholesale cost of food, meanwhile, fell 0.3%, primarily because of lower prices for fresh and dry vegetables. Minus those two categories, so-called core wholesale prices rose a surprisingly sharp 0.4% - double the MarketWatch forecast for a 0.2% increase. Over the past year wholesale prices have risen an unadjusted 4.1%, the lowest year-over-year increase since January 2011.

30-year mortgage rate matches record low of 3.87% (by Ruth Mantell)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The average rate on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained at 3.87% in the week ending Feb. 16, matching a record low set in recent weeks, Freddie Mac said Thursday in its weekly report on mortgage rates. The rate has been at 3.87% for three weeks. A year ago, the 30-year rate was at 5.00%. The 30-year mortgage data go back to 1971. To obtain the latest rate, payment of an average 0.8 point was required, according to Freddie, a buyer of residential mortgages. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged in prepaid interest. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage remained at 3.16% in the latest week. Meanwhile, the average rate on the 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage declined to 2.82% from 2.83% in the prior week. The 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM rose to 2.84% from 2.78%.