Housing Starts Released Tomorrow: How To Play It (XHB, PHM)

US Housing Starts are going to be released tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. and the majority of investors and traders are expecting the numbers to be terrible. Economists are expecting housing starts for the month of July to come in at 4.72 million. Most traders expect this number to come in worse than expected, and as such, readers may want to look at some of the housing names to short to profit off this. A couple names that investors may want to look at are PulteGroup, Inc. PHM and SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB. Last week on Thursday, the October $8 puts were very active on Pulte, having traded over 19,000 times. Investors can also take a look at shorting the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB into the housing starts. If this number comes in worse than expected, XHB would probably break below $14, as the chart looks to be in a head and shoulders pattern. Definitely one number to pay attention to. If housing starts show starts weaker than expected, one could make a case for a market sell off, and as such, investors need to hedge their positions.