Investing.com - The number of housing starts issued in the U.S. unexpectedly tumbled in September, but building permits, considered a leading indicator, jumped far more than expected, giving a mixed read over the health of the U.S. housing sector, official data showed Wednesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts unexpectedly slumped 9.0% to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.047 million units last month from August’s total of 1.150 million units, revised from the initial 1.142 million.
Analysts had expected a rise of 2.5% from the initial number to 1.175 million in August.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued rose 6.3% to a seasonally adjusted 1.225 million units last month from 1.152 million in August.
Economists had forecast a 0.9% gain to 1.165 million units in September.
After the release, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0970 from around 1.0976 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2293 from 1.2287 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 103.37 from 103.40 previously.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was unchanged at 97.86.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were pointing to a slightly higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 32 points, or 0.18%, the S&P 500 futures rose 4 points, or 0.16%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures inched up 1 point, or 0.03%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,272.35 a troy ounce, compared to $1,272.65 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $50.98 a barrel from $51.05 earlier.