Investing.com - The number of building permits issues in the U.S. fell unexpectedly in June, while housing starts also missed forecasts, official data showed Thursday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month fell by 4.2% to a seasonally adjusted 963,000 units from May’s total of 991,000.
Analysts expected building permits to rise by 4.2% to 1.04 million units in June.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts dropped by 9.3% last month to hit a seasonally adjusted 893,000 units from May’s total of 985,000, disappointing expectations for an increase of 0.9% to 1.018 million units.
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar held on to losses against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.04% to trade at 1.3531, compared to 1.3526 ahead of the data.
Meanwhile, the outlook for U.S. equity markets was mildly lower. The Dow pointed to a loss of 0.25% at the open, the S&P 500 indicated a decline of 0.4%, while the Nasdaq 100 signaled a fall of 0.45%.