Data on Thursday showed that The total number of US home starts fell 1.4% to 1.382 million units last month. Construction permits fell 1.6% to 1.330 million.
Manufacturing activity in the Mid-Atlantic region weakened again in January. The Philadelphia Fed’s monthly manufacturing index rose to -8.9 this month from -13.7 in December, a bigger improvement than expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
However, initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 15,000 in the week ending January 14., up to a seasonally adjusted figure of 190,000. Economists polled by Reuters had expected 214,000 applications.
“The housing market is in recession and the regional Fed surveys are weak and show that business activity is struggling,” said Edward Moya, an analyst at OANDA in New York.
“However, the initial jobless claims report reinforces the strength of the labor market. The labor market has to break for inflation to continue to come down.”
In afternoon trading in New York, The dollar was down 0.4% against its Japanese peer at 128.455 yen, a day after the Bank of Japan’s decision to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy.
The euro was up 0.4% against the US currency at $1.0831. On Wednesday it reached a nine-month high of $1,089, before easing ground.
Source: Ambito
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
