Earnings season is slowly starting to ramp into gear, and this morning’s reports continue to come in mixed relative to expectations. In terms of bottom-line numbers, the beat rates are still strong, but revenues have been coming up short. Only three of the ten companies to report so far this morning have exceeded revenue forecasts.

With two key housing reports due out momentarily, we wanted to take a quick look at how the housing stocks have been faring of late. To start off, let’s take a look at the performance of the iShares Home Construction ETF (ITB), which is primarily made up of homebuilders but also some peripheral companies like Home Depot (HD) and Lowe’s (LOW). With interest rates cratering in the last few months, the homebuilders have benefitted, and just like the broader market, the group is starting to break out from its recent sideways range. At a current level of $39.33, though, the ETF still has to clear the $40.23 level in order to take out its 52-week high from last summer. How today’s Housing Starts and Building Permits report comes in relative to expectations will go a long way in determining whether that happens today or not.