Investing.com – The number of housing starts and building permits issued in the U.S. unexpectedly declined in April, dampening optimism over the the health of the U.S. housing sector, official data showed Tuesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts decreased by 2.6% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.172 million units last month from March’s total of 1.203 million units, an upward revision from the initial 1.215 million.
Analysts had expected April’s reading to rise 3.7% from the prior month’s initial reading.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued fell 2.5% to a seasonally adjusted 1.229 million units last month from 1.260 million the month before.
Economists had forecast permits to rise 0.2% to 1.270 million units in April.
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.1063 compared to 1.1058 before the release, GBP/USD was at 1.2884 from 1.2881 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 113.55 from 113.67 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 98.28, compared to 98.34 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were trading slightly higher. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 39 points, or 0.18%, the S&P 500 futures rose 2 points, or 0.09%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 7 points, or 0.13%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,235.73, compared to $1,234.36 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $49.20 a barrel from $49.18 earlier.