RTTN: US Dollar Off Recent Highs Against European Majors
(RTTNews) - The US dollar eased from its early morning session's uptrend against the most major European currencies in New York mid-day deals on Wednesday after the releasing of some economic reports.
According to figures released today by the Commerce Department new privately-owned housing starts came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 750,000, a 2.3 percent increase from revised July levels.
The increase comes in part because revisions showed July housing starts at a 733,000 rate rather than the 746,000 initially reported.
New building permits, a leading indicator for housing starts, dropped somewhat in August, falling to a 803,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate, 1.0 percent below the revised July rate of 811,000.
The U.S. National Association of Realtors reported today that existing home sales jumped 7.8 percent to an annual rate of 4.82 million in August from 4.47 million in July. Economists had expected existing home sales to climb to an annual rate of 4.55 million.
After hitting 5-day highs of 1.2996 against the euro and 0.9309 versus the Swiss franc at about 8:00 am ET, the greenback reversed its direction and as of now worth 1.3069 and 0.9269, respectively.
The dollar that edged up to a new multi-day high of 1.6187 versus the British pound by about 8:35 am ET, declined thereafter and currently trading near 1.6227.
