U.S. Housing Starts Actual 0.46M, Expected 0.52M, Previous 0.51M

U.S. Building Permits Actual 0.49M, Expected 0.53M, Previous 0.52M

Release

Explanation: This report covers the number of new residential Starts

and residential Building Permits issued each month, reported on an

annualized basis. The reports act as leading indicators on housing

market sentiment and the overall economy because they have an important

influence on new & existing home sales, employment, retail sales,

durable goods orders and GDP as new additions are fitted out with

fixtures and fittings. “A currency will eventually be affected by these

numbers as they are the first phase in the home construction process.”

TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Team said.

TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Desk

Thoughts: Privately owned housing units authorized by building permits

in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 494,000, 3.3%

below the revised March rate of 511,000 and 50.2% below the revised

April estimate of 991,000

Single family authorizations in April were at a rate of 373,000, 3.6% above the revised March figure of 360,000.

Privately

owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate

of 458,000. This is 12.8% below the revised March estimate of 525,000

and is 54.2% below the revised April 2008 rate of 1,001,000.

Forex

Technical Reaction: S&P futures are still positive but off of the

highs of the morning. The dollar has strengthened across the board in

reaction to the release.

Retail sales