The unusually warm January weather in the Northeast has led to outliers in economic data, most notably the best January in housing starts since 1973.

On the surface, a torrid pace of housing starts seems to be a good thing for the economy, but in this case it appears that the weather has skewed the data from home heating (way down) to retail (way up, especially in building materials.) After December's very disappointing figures, January's numbers may not add up to an increase in demand for this year, but merely a shift in timing.

Tags: housing starts economy weather demand