U.S. Housing Starts Drop More Than Expected December; Building Permits Beat

U.S. housing starts come in at 1.192 million vs. 1.275 million forecast

Investing.com – The number of housing starts fell more than expected in December, while building permits beat consensus, giving a mixed read over the health of the U.S. housing sector, official data showed Thursday.

In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts fell by 8.2% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.192 million units last month That was from November’s total of 1.299 million units, which was revised higher from the initial 1.297 million.

Analysts had expected December’s number to fall to 1.275 million.

Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined by 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted 1.302 million units last month from 1.303 million the month before.

Economists had forecast permits to fall to 1.290 million units in December.

After the report, which was released simultaneously with weekly jobless claims and the January Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, EUR/USD traded at 1.2233 compared to 1.2229 before the release, GBP/USD exchanged hands at 1.3862 compared to 1.3861 previously, while USD/JPY was at 111.20 from 111.19 earlier.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 90.41, compared to 90.43 previously.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed open. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 17 points, or 0.07%, the S&P 500 futures slipped 2 points, or 0.05%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell 17 points, or 0.25%.

Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,328.40, compared to $1,328.90 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $64.06 a barrel from $64.05 earlier.

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