The U.S. housing market sent troubling signals toward the end of 2018, walloping companies with direct ties to the home-building sector, but also creating some great buying opportunities for anyone who likes beaten-up stocks. Norbord Inc. is a name to watch here. The Toronto-based company, which makes oriented strand board used in home construction, has a particularly volatile relationship to U.S. housing numbers: The share price fell nearly 45 per cent between June and October… and has been coasting along two-year lows for most of the past four months. …Just maybe, the worst is over for the U.S. housing market as the Fed eases up on interest rate hikes and borrowing costs stabilize. Jocelyn Paquet, an economist at National Bank Financial, pointed out that U.S. residential building permits over the past three months have exceeded the number of housing starts at a difference not seen in more than 10 years. [to read the full story a digital subscription is required]