EUR/USD inched down today as traders were waiting for tomorrow’s policy announcement from the European Central Bank. Today’s economic docket was almost empty, but the housing report released in the United States was good, helping the dollar to gain on the euro.
Both housing starts and building permits climbed in June, rising above the levels forecast by analysts. Housing starts were at the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.22 million last month, up from 1.12 million in May (revised from 1.09 million). Building permits were at the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.25 million, up from 1.17 million in the prior month. That is compared to the median forecast of 1.16 million and 1.20 million for housing starts and building permits respectively. (Event A on the chart.)
Crude oil inventories shrank by 4.7 million barrels last week but remained in the upper half of the average range for this time of year. That is compared to the predicted drop by 3.6 million and the previous week’s decline by 7.6 million. Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 4.4 million barrels last week but were also in the upper half of the average range. (Event B on the chart.)
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