Investing.com – The number of housing starts unexpectedly fell in August, though from a higher level than initially registered in the prior month, while building permits unexpectedly jumped, official data showed Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts decreased by 0.8% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.180 million units last month from July’s total of 1.190 million units, which was an upward revision from the initial 1.155 million.
Analysts had expected August’s number to rise 1.7% from the prior month’s initial reading to 1.175 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued jumped by 5.7% to a seasonally adjusted 1.300 million units last month from 1.230 million the month before which was a slight upward revision from the initial 1.223 million recorded.
Economists had forecast permits to decrease 0.8% to 1.220 million units in August.
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.1982 compared to 1.1973 before the release, GBP/USD was at 1.3528 from 1.3523 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 111.48 from 111.47 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 91.64, compared to 91.68 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat to higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 14 points, or 0.06%, the S&P 500 futures rose 2 points, or 0.06%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 4 points, or 0.06%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,311.74, compared to $1,312.19 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $50.77 a barrel from $50.70 earlier.