Forex Roundup - US trade deficit grows in 1st Quarter. PPI rises. Housing Starts, Building Permits fall. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

June 17, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Forex Roundup - US trade deficit grows in 1st Quarter. PPI rises. Housing Starts, Building Permits fall.

The United States trade deficit grew more than expected in the 1st quarter according to a release by the Commerce Department today. The U.S. trade deficit reached $176.4 billion in the 1st quarter following a revised deficit of $167.2 billion in the 4th quarter of 2007. Market forecasts were expecting a deficit of around $172.5 billion for the January through March quarter.

Producer Prices increase.

The U.S. Department of Labor released data on producer prices that showed producer inflation increased in May by the fastest in six months. The Producer Price Index for finished goods showed an increase of 1.4 in May after a rise of 0.2 in April. Record high prices in oil contributed mightily to the increase in producer prices as the index for gasoline increased 9.3 percent in May after a decrease of 4.6 percent in April. Economic forecasts had expected producer prices to increase by 1.0 percent for May. Core ppi, excluding food and energy prices, registered 2.0 percent for the month which matched economic forecasts.

U.S. Housing Starts and Building Permits fall in May. Completions rise.

U.S. Housing Starts and Building Permits declined in the month of May according to data released by the Commerce Department on new residential construction. Housing Starts fell by 3.3 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 975,000, a decrease from April's 1,008,000 estimated housing starts. May's total is down 32.1 percent compared with May of 2007. Single-family housing starts totaled 674,000 which was 1.0 percent less than April.

Building permits statistics, used as a predictor of future construction, showed a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 969,000 permits in May which is a decrease of 1.3 percent compared to April. May's total is a 36.3 percent drop from May of 2007. Single-family permits totaled 623,000 which was 4.0 percent less than April's permit totals.

Housing Completions for May increased when compared to April as completions increased to an annual rate of 1,132,000 privately-owned housing completions. This is an increase of 11.6 percent when compared to April's completion totals. Despite the increase in May, housing completions are 26.9 percent below the May 2007 level. Single family housing completions totaled an annual rate of 869,000 in May which was an increase of 8.9 percent over April.

Tags: forex, trade balance, producer prices, inflation, housing, construction, building permits

Blog Home