Investing.com – The number of housing starts and building permits surged in October, recovering from the prior month’s decline and bolstering 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 jumped by 13.7% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.290 million units last month from September’s total of 1.135 million units, which was an upward revision from the initial 1.127 million.
Analysts had expected October’s number to rise by just 5.6% from the prior month’s initial reading to 1.185 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued increased by 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted 1.297 million units last month from 1.225 million the month before.
Economists had forecast permits to advance 2.0% to 1.247 million units in October
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.1779 compared to 1.1794 before the release, GBP/USD exchanged hands at 1.3186 compared to 1.3193 previously, while USD/JPY was at 112.69 from 112.63 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 93.78, compared to 93.68 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat open with mixed signs. The blue-chip Dow futures lost 36 points, or 0.15%, the S&P 500 futures edged down 1 point, or 0.04%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures inched up 3 points, or 0.05%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,283.33, compared to $1,282.70 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $55.98 a barrel from $56.05 earlier.