Investing.com - The number of housing starts issued in the U.S. fell unexpectedly in December, while building permits also declined, 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 fell 2.5% to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.149 million units last month from November’s total of 1.179 million units. Analysts had expected a rise 1.6% to 1.200 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined 3.9% to a seasonally adjusted 1.232 million units from November’s total of 1.289 million. Economists had forecast a drop of 6.4% to 1.200 million units.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.0896 from around 1.0901 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4170 from 1.4169 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 116.77 from 116.75 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 99.17, compared to 99.15 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The Dow futures sank 269 points, or 1.7%, the S&P 500 futures lost 31 points, or 1.63%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 78 points, or 1.89%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,101.20 a troy ounce, compared to $1,099.20 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $28.84 a barrel from $28.77 earlier.