With Oil prices at 8 year highs well over $100/barrel all 31 member countries of the International Energy Agency have agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves — half of that from the United States — “to send a strong message to oil markets” that there will be “no shortfall in the oil supply.”

U.S. construction spending surged in January, boosted by strong outlays on single-family homebuilding and private nonresidential structures.  The Commerce Department said that construction spending increased 1.3%. Data for December was revised higher to show construction outlays rising 0.8% instead of 0.2% as previously reported.  Construction spending increased 8.2% on a year-on-year basis in January.  Despite January's jump, homebuilding remains constrained by higher prices for building materials, especially framing lumber.  The National Association of Homebuilders said last month that building material production bottlenecks were raising construction costs and delaying projects.

The Institute for Supply Management’s barometer of American factories rose slightly in February in a sign the economy partly rebounded after an omicron-induced lull toward the end of last year.  The increase in the manufacturing index was the first in four months.  The report, compiled by the Institute for Supply Management, is seen as a mirror of the health of the U.S. economy.  The receding wave of omicron cases and end of government restrictions is giving the economy a boost, but widespread shortages and high inflation are still restraining growth.