Markets have learned important data from the US economy today. They concerned building permits and the number of housing starts for April. The data turned out to be worse than forecast and worse than the March reading.
- US housing construction permits (April) – 1229 ths. (Forecast 1,270 thousand, previously 1267 thousand). Although the data are slightly worse than forecasts, the chart below shows that they do not deviate significantly from the average of the current year.
Started construction of homes in the US (April) – 1172 thousand. (Forecast 1260 thousand previously 1215 thousand). The number of commenced sites is the lowest in 2017 and is the third consecutive month of declines.
Reaction to data on EURUSD and GBPUSD
The first reaction to the data was the weakening of the dollar against the euro what meant growth of EURUSD. The pair was so high at the beginning of November 2016.
In a completely different situation is the GBPUSD, where before noon after data from the UK and the Eurozone the pair has fallen. However, immediately after the data, here we also see growth movement.
