-Federal Reserve
The world's number one economy surprised with soft economic data, raising concerns about the economy's ability to rebound from a weak patch hit in the beginning of the year. According to the US Commerce Department, the number of building permits issued in March plummeted by 5.7% in March to a seasonally adjusted 1.039 million units down from February's total of 1.102 million. Analysts, however, had predicted building permits to decline by 2.0% to 1.080 million units in March. In addition to that, the report showed that US housing starts climbed by 2.0% in March to a seasonally adjusted 926,000 units from February's total of 908,000 units, against expectations for an advance of 15.9% to 1.040 million.
Separately, the number of Americans who filed for unemployment benefits rose last week compared to the previous week. Initial jobless claims across the country increased to a seasonally adjusted 294,000 in the week ended April 11, according to the Department of Labor. Economists, however, had expected claims slipping to 280,000 last week. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labour market trends as it strips out weekly volatility, rose 250 to 282,750 last week. Claims below 300,000 are associated with a strengthening labour market. Meanwhile, continuing claims for the week ended March 28 came in at 2.268 million, compared to previous week's revised reading of 2.308 million.
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