Nevertheless, these prices aren't anomalies. Other areas of the construction industry are doing as well or better. Whatever side of that bet you take, there's a decent chance you'll find ripe trading volatility in this normally slow-moving sector. The Web sites discussed below can help you pick likely winners and losers. For starters, analysts like Merrill Lynch's Fritz Von Carp say that construction spending typically takes off during the last phase of an economic expansion.
Companies tend to think along the same lines.
What's more, many of these stocks have been sorely depressed throughout the tech-crazed '90s. Also fueling the boom, of course, are lower interest rates. Finally, California's energy mess and fears it'll spread nationwide are sparking a mad rush to create new power plants and oil refineries. Not all the news is good, however. Consensus forecasts point to slower construction-industry growth throughout 2001.