Preview: Home Starts, Factory Production May Fall

Builders in America broke ground in February on the fewest houses in 17 years and factory production fell, a sign the deepening real-estate slump is dragging the economy into a recession, government reports this week may show.

Residential home starts fell 1.7% to an annual rate of 995,000, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of the Commerce Department's March 18 report. Industrial output likely dropped in February for the first time in four months, Federal Reserve figures may show.