Investing.com - The number of housing starts issued in the U.S. rose more than forecast in July, while building permits fell unexpectedly, painting a mixed picture of the U.S. housing sector, official data showed Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts rose 2.1% to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.211 million units last month from June’s total of 1.186 million units. Analysts had expected a dip 0.8% to 1.180 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted 1.152 million units from 1.153 million. Economists had forecast a gain of 0.6% to 1.160 million units in June.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1318 from around 1.1297 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.3005 from 1.2983 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 99.60 from 99.78 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.39, compared to 94.59 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open. The blue-chip Dow futures shed 30 points, or 0.16%, the S&P 500 futures declined 3 points, or 0.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 7 points, or 0.14%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,363.25 a troy ounce, compared to $1,359.85 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.19 a barrel from $46.09 earlier.