The markets gave up some of their gains on Wednesday but investors shouldn?t worry too much about the move. Bad news for Visa is cause for most of the day?s decline and was offset by another round of much better than expected news from the retail sector. Retailers from Target to TJ Maxx beat their consensus estimates and guided the market higher citing robust trends and the expectation for fully-stocked shelves this holiday season.

On the economic front, the housing data was a mixed bag with Building Permits rising more than expected and Housing Starts falling versus an expectation for gains. The data underscore a worsening problem in the housing market, that of rising demand and stalling activity due to supply and labor shortages. If the bottlenecks are corrected soon housing prices could sustain their meteoric climb.