Investing.com – The number of housing starts unexpectedly increased in November, while building permits declined much less than expected, official data showed Friday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that housing starts rose by 3.3% from the month before to hit a seasonally adjusted 1.297 million units last month That was from October’s total of 1.256 million units, which was revised lower from the initial 1.290 million.
Analysts had expected November’s number to drop 3.2% from the prior month’s initial reading to 1.250 million.
Meanwhile, the number of building permits issued declined by 1.4% to a seasonally adjusted 1.298 million units last month from 1.316 million the month before.
Economists had forecast permits to fall 3.1% to 1.273 million units in November.
After the report, EUR/USD traded at 1.1822 compared to 1.1819 before the release, GBP/USD exchanged hands at 1.3354 compared to 1.3353 previously, while USD/JPY was at 112.75 from 112.73 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, traded at 93.13, compared to 93.14 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed open. The blue-chip Dow futures gained 68 points, or 0.27%, the S&P 500 futures advanced 3 points, or 0.12%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 1 point, or 0.01%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures was at $1,265.20, compared to $1,264.50 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $57.55 a barrel from $57.56 earlier.