Investing.com – The number of housing starts and building permits slumped more than expected in September, dampening optimism 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 decreased by 4.7% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.127 million units last month from August’s total of 1.183 million units, which was an upward revision from the initial 1.180 million.
Analysts had expected September’s number to decrease just 0.5% from the prior month’s initial reading to 1.180 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined by 4.5% to a seasonally adjusted 1.215 million units last month from 1.272 million the month before.
Economists had forecast permits to decrease 2.9% to 1.245 million units in September.
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.1763 compared to 1.1756 before the release, GBP/USD was unchanged at 1.3161, while USD/JPY was at 112.83 from 112.85 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 93.49, compared to 93.53 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 93 points, or 0.40%, the S&P 500 futures rose 90 points, or 0.39%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 5 points, or 0.08%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,281.04, compared to $1,280.71 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $52.09 a barrel from $52.08 earlier.