Low-cost energy has been a boon for U.S. refiners, who are processing cheaper domestic oil to make fuel to meet rising demand in countries such as Brazil, China and India. Shares of Marathon Petroleum Corp. and Phillips 66 hit records in January after earnings beat estimates. In the first week of March, U.S. exports of products such as gasoline and diesel rose to a record 3.2 million barrels a day, according to EIA data.

Cheap natural gas has also attracted investment in steel making, petrochemicals and fertilizers, such as the $550 million methanol project being built by Methanex Corp. in Geismar, Louisiana. The fuel has declined 73 percent to $4.139 per million British thermal units since reaching a peak in 2005.

The rebound in housing presents another boost. Builders will break ground on 970,000 houses this year, up from 780,600 in 2012 and the most since 2007, the Bloomberg survey median showed.

The increase in construction is unfolding as property values firm. The median price of an existing house climbed 11.6 percent in the 12 months ended February, the biggest year-over- year advance since November 2005, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors.

Creating Wealth

“House-price appreciation is creating wealth, as is the run-up in stocks,” said Morgan Stanley’s Reinhart. That is also helping buoy household spending, he said. In addition, “there is a lot of business activity that is tied to housing,” he said, including sales of furniture, appliances and automobiles.

Cars sold at an average 15.3 million annualized rate in the first quarter, the most since the same period in 2008, according to figures from Ward’s Automotive Group.

While the increase in the payroll tax and cuts in government spending are a concern, “everything else seems to be pretty positive,” Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales and service at Detroit-based General Motors Co., said on an April 2 conference call. McNeil said gains in employment and housing, the thawing in consumer credit and the increase in stock prices outweighed the negatives.

“I think most Americans are pretty tired of what goes on in Washington, so they’ve started to tune that out a little bit,” McNeil said.

Budget Cuts