From Tomi Kilgore: Homebuilder stocks were broadly higher Tuesday, as they outperformed the broader stock market, after upbeat government data on housing starts for November. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB, +2.11% hiked up 2.5% in midday trade, with 34 of its 35 equity components trading higher. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.52% rose 0.8%. Among the homebuilder ETF's most active components, shares of D.R. Horton Inc. DHI, +2.97% shot up 5.4%, PulteGroup Inc. PHM, +3.63% rallied 4.1%, Lennar Corp. LEN, +3.41% climbed 4.4%, Toll Brothers Inc. TOL, +2.91% tacked on 3.8% and TRI Pointe Group Inc.TPH, +2.97% rose 4.0%. Earlier, the Commerce Department said housing starts ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.256 million last month, beating the MarketWatch consensus for a 1.23 million pace. That follows a string of downbeat housing market data, including the National Association of Home Builders saying Monday that its monthly confidence index fell to a 3 1/2-year low in December. Despite Tuesday's rally, the homebuilder ETF was still down 16.6% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 SPX, +0.52% was 11.6% lower.

NYSE:XHB December 18, 2018 1:48pm