U.S. fundamental statistics, that were released today in abundance, appeared to be worse than the market analysts expected. It helped the EUR/USD currency pair to reach its new absolute maximum value at 1.5968 and kept dollar bearish also against the other major currencies.
CPI (Consumer Price Index) rose 0.3% in March at the same pace as expected. In February this indicator was at 0%.
Housing starts and building permits declined rapidly in March they were at 947k and 927k respectively, while the forecast values were at 1,010k and 970k respectively. In February housing starts were at 1,075k and building permits were at 984k. All numbers are presented at a seasonally adjusted annual rate.
Industrial production showed a surprise growth at 0.3%, while a fall by 0.1% was expected and it fell 0.7% in February. Industrial production remained at the same level in March as in February and as expected 80.3%.
Crude oil inventories dropped 2.3 million and are in the lower half of the average range for this time of year, as the Energy Information Administration reported.
