As GM goes, so go the nation's housing markets?

The United Auto Workers have walked off the job at GM -- the first national strike against a U.S. automaker since 1976, the AP reports.

The Detroit Free Press says local strikes in Flint stopped GM's production for 53 days in 1998 and cost the company $2 billion.

Expect inflation bears (see previous post) to seize on the strike as evidence that the Fed was premature in declaring victory in the war against inflation and cutting the federal funds rate by 50 basis points last week. That could keep long-term interest rates on the upswing and further bruise housing markets -- the opposite of the Fed's intention.

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