U.S. housing starts and building permits fell while housing completions increased in the month of March according to data released by the Commerce Department on new residential construction. Housing Starts fell by 10.8 percent in March to a
Building permits statistics, used as a predictor of future construction, showed a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 513,000 permits in March. This was a decrease of 9.0 percent compared to February and a 45.0 percent drop from March of 2008 level. The March data in building permits was also below the market forecasts that were expecting permits to number approximately 549,000 for the month.
Housing Completions for March increased when compared to February as completions advanced to an annual rate of 824,000 privately-owned housing completions. This is an increase of 3.5 percent when compared to February’s completion totals while still 30.9 percent below the March 2008 level.
Weekly jobless claims fall by 53,000.
Weekly U.S. jobless claims declined in the week that ended on April 11th according to a separate report by the U.S. Labor Department today. Jobless claims fell by 53,000 workers to a total of 610,000 unemployed workers. A 4-week moving average fell by 8,500 workers from the prior week to 651,000.
Meanwhile, workers continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending April 4th increased by 172,000 workers while a four week moving average of continuing claims grew by 146,000 workers to 5,796,000 workers.
US Dollar gains in forex trading today.
The U.S. dollar has been stronger in forex trading today against the other major currencies. The euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and New Zealand dollar have all declined versus the American currency so far today.
The EUR/USD pair has declined slightly from today’s opening rate of 1.3218 dollars at 00:00GMT to trading to 1.3193 at 1:05 pm EST in the afternoon of the U.S. trading session according to currency data by Oanda.
The GBP/USD has declined from today’s opening level at 1.5015 to trading today at 1.4921 after increasing for the past three days in a row.
The US dollar is gaining slightly today against the yen and looking to increase for the second straight day versus the Japanese currency. The USD/JPY opened today at 99.14 and has advanced to trading at 99.25.
The dollar is looking to make a third straight gain today versus the Swiss franc as the USD/CHF has gone from the 1.1434 opening rate to trading at 1.1467.
The dollar has increased today against the Canadian loonie after falling the last three days in a row. The USD/CAD has advanced to trading around the 1.2103 level today after opening at 1.2037.
The Australian Aussie has fallen versus the US dollar today as the AUD/USD has declined to the 0.7170 level after opening at 0.7276. The New Zealand kiwi has also declined against the dollar as the NZD/USD has reached the 0.5703 level today after opening the day at 0.5774.
NZD/USD Chart – The New Zealand Dollar falling against the US Dollar today. The NZD is on its way to declining against the USD for the second straight week after a run of five consecutive weekly gains.
