Investing.com - The number of housing starts issued in the U.S. fell less than expected in May, but building permits missed consensus, 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 declined 0.3% to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.164 million units last month from April’s total of 1.167 million units, a downward revision from the initial 1.172 million. Analysts had expected a decrease to 1.150 million in May.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued increased 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted 1.138 million units from the prior 1.130 million. Economists had forecast a rise to 1.150 million units in May.
After the release, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1254 from around 1.1256 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4286 from 1.4284 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 104.27 from 104.26 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was unchanged at 94.49.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were trading flat. The blue-chip Dow futures dropped 8 points, or 0.04%, the S&P 500 futures lost 2 points, or 0.11%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 3 points, or 0.06%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,295.50 a troy ounce, compared to $1,293.05 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.18 a barrel from $47.27 earlier.