Today's M^3 - Lumber Futures Down 20% for the Year

Today's Major Market Move takes a look at Lumber which is down over 20% since the end of January, making it the worst performing commodity over that time frame. Maybe instead of iPad prices, New York Fed President William Dudley could have cited lumber prices as an example of a lack of inflation.


It's hard to imagine any kind of recovery in the housing market while lumber prices remain this depressed, unless the housing industry has shifted to cardboard as the primary building material. The drop in lumber prices in April was lagged by a similar drop in the housing index XHB by a month.





(Click on the images for a larger view.
Click here for the current performance of commodity futures.
Click here for the current performance of lumber futures.)