In June, both housing starts and permits surprised on the upside of expectations. Housing starts rose by 3.6% M/M from an upwardly revised 562 000 to 582 000, while the consensus expected a figure of 530 000. Building permits rose by a steeper 8.7% M/M from 518 000 to 563 000. Both houses under construction (-3.4% M/M) and houses completed (-0.4% M/M) dropped in July. This outcome confirms that US housing starts and permits are stabilizing, but remain at rather low levels.
EMU: trade balance posts second straight monthly surplus
In May, the euro zone seasonally adjusted trade balance came out in line with expectations showing a surplus of €0.8B. The previous figure was significantly upwardly revised from a deficit of 0.3B to a surplus of 0.7B, the first euro zone trade surplus since April 2008. Looking at the details, exports dropped by 2.7% M/M, while imports fell by 2.8% M/M, which might be a bit disappointing as markets had hoped for an increase in exports.
