Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,297,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. This is 3.3% above the revised October estimate of 1,256,000 and is 12.9% above the November 2016 rate of 1,149,000. Single-family housing starts in November were at a rate of 930,000; this is 5.3% above the revised October figure of 883,000. The November rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 359,000.

Tuesday, the Dow closed 37.45 points (0.15%) lower at 24,754.75, the NASDAQ dropped 30.91 points (0.44%) to finish at 6,963.85, and the S&P 500 decreased 8.69 points (0.32%) to 2,681.47. The Russell 2000 fell 12.17 points (0.79%) to 1,536.75, and the Wilshire 5000 was down 49.87 points (0.18%) at 27,821.94.

The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 18/32, bringing its yield up to 2.456%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 13/32, increasing its yield to 2.810%.

ON THIS DATE: In 1606, the “Susan Constant,” “Godspeed” and “Discovery” set sail from London. Their landing at Jamestown, Virginia, was the start of the first permanent English settlement in America. In 1803, the United States Senate ratified a treaty that included the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million. The transfer was completed with formal ceremonies in New Orleans. In 1820, the state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21 and 50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year. In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the American Union. In 1864, Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, Georgia, as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his “March to the Sea.” In 1879, Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, New Jersey. In 1946, the Frank Capra film “It’s A Wonderful Life” had a preview showing for charity at New York City’s Globe Theatre, a day before its “official” world premiere. In 1968, author John Steinbeck died at the age of 66. In 1989, General Noriega, Panama’s former dictator, was overthrown by a United States invasion force invited by the new civilian government. In 1990, the world’s first website and server went live at CERN. The first website was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html. In 1998, in Houston, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets. In 2001, the U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan.

WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “A sad soul can kill quicker than a germ.”—John Steinbeck