Residential housing starts dropped to a 1.46 million annualized rate last month, down 4.3%, led by a fall in single-family home construction, according to the Commerce Department. Multifamily starts climbed to the highest level in five months, and building permits increased. Meanwhile, homebuilder sentiment improved in January amid declining mortgage rates but the majority of builders continue to consider conditions unfavorable.

The prices of goods imported to the US held steady in December after falling 0.5% in November, according to Labor Department data. Year-over-year import prices fell 1.6% in December, following a 1.4% decline in November. Fuel import prices declined 0.3% last month, while food, feed and beverages prices decreased slightly and nonfuel industrial supplies increased slightly.

North Dakota-based electrical supplies distributor Border States is acquiring California-based Winston Engineering in a move aimed at bolstering its services offerings. Winston Engineering offers mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering services for a wide range of construction activities, and Border States said the deal would give the firm a competitive advantage by offering in-house services that provide value to customers and strategic partners.

Although manufacturing sales grew 3% over the past 12 months and distributors' combined sales decreased about 3%, the coming year is expected to be more upbeat. Business-to-business digital commerce is expected to continue to grow in 2024 and help sales expand overall, with a rebound expected in the market for B2B products and services.

Sean Ashcroft highlights 10 businesses that succeeded with digital supply chain transformations and bucked the 70% fail rate. These include Heineken Europe's four-point strategy that reduced secondary packaging by 50% and cut carbon emissions by 24% and Walmart's $7.2 billion investment in supply chain, omnichannel and technology.

Yellow was granted approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to sell 23 truck terminal leases to six bidders for $82.89 million. Estes was the highest spender in the bidding round approved by the court and acquired the second-largest number of terminals in the first auction.

Prophet's Mat Zucker and Kate Price outline six ways business-to-business marketers can drive growth with less budget. Increase customer-centricity, prioritize growth opportunities, optimize strategies to focus on channels that deliver and focus on the moments in the customer journey that are most aligned with your goals, the pair write.

A majority of the districts reporting in the Federal Reserve's Beige Book survey of regional business contacts reported "little or no change" in economic activity but expectations "for future growth were positive, had improved, or both," the Fed said. In addition, nearly all districts said they have seen one or more signs of a cooling labor market and many firms noted an easing in inflationary pressures in recent weeks.

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