Investing.com - The number of building permits issues in the U.S. fell unexpectedly in December, while housing starts topped forecasts, official data showed Wednesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month decreased by 1.9% to a seasonally adjusted 1.032 million units from November’s total of 1.052 million.
Analysts expected building permits to rise by 1.3% to 1.055 million units in December.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts rose by 4.4% last month to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.089 million units from November’s total of 1.043 million units, compared to expectations for a reading of 1.040 million.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1604 from around 1.1598 ahead of the release of the data, while GBP/USD was at 1.5117 from 1.5112 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 117.34 from 117.30 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 92.80, compared to 92.82 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures pointed to a loss of 0.4% at the open, the S&P 500 futures inched down 0.25%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.25%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,302.60 a troy ounce, compared to $1,303.20 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.13 a barrel from $46.95 earlier.