Briefs for Thursday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Home construction rose 4.9% in October as home building remains as one of the bright spots of the U.S. economy.

The increase pushed home construction to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.53 million homes and apartments and followed a more modest gain of 1.9% in September.

Building permits, a good barometer of future activity, remained at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.55 million annualized units, effectively unchanged from September.

The figure remains up 2.8% from a year earlier, showing how strong the housing market was over the summer despite the pandemic.

Target shows strong sales

NEW YORK – Target is the latest big-box U.S. retailer to indicate that it’s prospering during the pandemic.

The Minneapolis company reported Wednesday that its online sales surged 155% in the three months that ended Oct. 31.

Sales at its stores opened for a least a year rose 10%. Customer traffic rose 4.5% and average dollars spent rose nearly 16%.

It joined Walmart and Home Depot in reporting strong third quarter sales.Rising sales not only bode well for the holiday shopping season ahead for Target, it revealed again the widening gap between big- box stores and more traditional retail and department stores in the pandemic. Business is booming at Target and Walmart because they sell groceries, auto supplies clothing and thousands of other goods all under one roof. That means shoppers can reduce their exposure by cutting back on trips to multiple stores.

From wire reports