Investing.com - The number of housing starts and building permits issued in the U.S. both fell more than expected in November, dampening optimism over the health of the U.S. housing sector, official data showed Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts tumbled 18.7% to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.090 million units last month from October’s total of 1.340 million units, an upward revision from the initial 1.323 million. Analysts had expected November’s reading to fall to only 1.230 million units.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined 4.7% to a seasonally adjusted 1.201 million units last month from 1.260 million in October. Economists had forecast the units to fall to 1.240 million units in November.
After the release, the dollar remains broadly lower. EUR/USD was trading at 1.0442 from around 1.0432 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2441 from 1. 2438 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 118.16 from 118.26 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 102.96, compared to 103.06 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were trading slightly higher. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 41 points, or 0.21%, the S&P 500 futures rose 5 points, or 0.21%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 13 points, or 0.27%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,134.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,134.60 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $51.33 a barrel from $51.11 earlier.