Lumber Retreats from 3-Month High

2026-01-23 17:35 By Felipe Alarcon 1 min. read

Lumber futures fell toward $590 per thousand board feet, retreating from its three-month high of $614.5 seen January 20th as US housing data weakened and earlier restocking flows faded.

Pending home sales plunged 9.3% month on month in December, the sharpest drop since April 2020, signalling softer transaction activity and tempering expectations for near-term construction demand ahead of the spring building season.

Physical markets also cooled, with distributors reporting quieter order books even as mills continued running at steady rates to rebuild inventories after earlier tightness, briefly loosening availability.

The pullback was reinforced by profit-taking after the January rally, with falling volumes and open interest pointing to position unwinds rather than a fresh wave of bearish selling.



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