MeritEdge

Jannarone WSJ 6.7.10
I don't like the use of "excluding charges" in calculating homebuilders' gross margins (sounds too much like "core" inflation excluding food & fuels, 2 of the most essential purchases to consumers). Nonetheless, I hope that the bigger players have bigger charges to exclude by having further overextended themselves during the bubble. I have visited their site & found they're hiring in several key areas (unfortunately for me no structural engineering positions). So I have a second metric independent of the Journal in case the article writer has a vested interest in talking up the builder.

Light @ End?

Steel prices expected to fall: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704269204575270401110245226.html

as China ramps up production:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703406604575278290771237112.html

plus the WSJ has a recent article (W or Th I believe) about China seeking to unload excess steel on the global market as domestic prices fall.

Prices rose in the US & in Europe because of plant shutdowns, but have flattened now in the US. If the US gov't were willing to -- at least temporarily -- lift quotas on steel imports, that could help American homebuilders who are struggling to cut costs & make new homes affordable enough for underemployed, bankrupted, & foreclosed-on buyers. Hopefully it's enough to create new demand to the degree that builders hire/rehire more people to handle expanded production.