Investing.com – The number of housing starts and building permits issued in the U.S. unexpectedly tumbled in May, dampening optimism over the health of the U.S. housing sector, official data showed Friday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts decreased by 5.5% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.092 million units last month from April’s total of 1.156 million units, a downward revision from the initial 1.172 million.
Analysts had expected May’s reading to rise 4.1% from the prior month’s initial reading to 1.215 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined by 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted 1.168 million units last month from 1.228 million the month before.
Economists had forecast permits to rise 1.8% to 1.250 million units in May.
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.1178 compared to 1.1169 before the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2787 from 1.2772 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 111.19 from 111.34 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 97.29, compared to 97.36 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat to higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 8 points, or 0.04%, the S&P 500 futures rose 1 point, or 0.04%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures edged forward 1 point, or 0.02%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,258.60, compared to $1,256.49 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $44.80 a barrel from $44.86 earlier.