Investing.com – The number of housing starts and building permits issued in the U.S. rose much more than expected in June, recovering from a prior slump and bolstering 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 increased by 8.3% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.215 million units last month from May’s total of 1.122 million units, an upward revision from the initial 1.092 million.
Analysts had expected June’s index to rise 5.8% from the prior month’s initial reading to 1.155 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued rose by 7.4% to a seasonally adjusted 1.254 million units last month from 1.168 million the month before.
Economists had forecast permits to rise 3.0% to 1.200 million units in June.
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.1530 compared to 1.1533 before the release, GBP/USD was at 1.3032 from 1.3034 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 111.92 from 111.91 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 94.53, compared to 94.52 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat to higher open. The blue-chip Dow futures inched up 9 points, or 0.04%, the S&P 500 futures rose 3 points, or 0.10%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 18 points, or 0.30%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,240.74, compared to $1,240.91 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $46.49 a barrel from $46.47 earlier.