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Investing.com - The number of building permits issues in the U.S. fell more-than-expected in May, while housing starts also missed forecasts, official data showed Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month fell by 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted 991,000 units from April’s total of 1.059 million.
Analysts expected building permits to decline by 0.1% to 1.05 million units in May.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts dropped by 6.5% last month to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.001 million units from April’s total of 1.071 million, disappointing expectations for a decline of 3.7% to 1.034 million units.
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar added to gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.14% to trade at 1.3555, compared to 1.3570 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow indicated a loss of 0.1%, the S&P 500 pointed to a decline of 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 signaled a fall of 0.1%.