US housing starts dropped by 17% to 0.90 million. However, building permits are up to 1.09 million. The weather is blamed for the fall in starts in February. The rise in building permits means that future starts could look better.
The US dollar is slightly stronger after the release: EUR/USD is ticking back down to 1.0623, GBP/USD is trading at 1.4770 and USD/JPY remains stable at 121.17.
US building permits were expected to tick up to 1.07 million (annualized) in February after 1.06 million in January. Housing starts were expected to slide to 1.05 million from 1.07 million.
The US dollar was somewhat on the back foot towards the publication, with EUR/USD rising to 1.0633.
The markets are looking towards tomorrow’s Fed decision. Yellen and her colleagues are predicted to remove the “patience” wording regarding rates. The excellent NFP seems to have paved the way for a rate hike in June, but everything is data dependent as the Fed always repeats.
More: Keep Buying The USD; EUR/USD Set To Break Below Parity – RBS
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