Housing Starts Report, Building Permits, Brexit
June 17, 2016
Friday – June 17
Groundbreaking on single-family homes was a bright spot in today’s Housing Starts report from the Commerce Department. Although U.S. housing starts slipped in May as multi-family housing units dropped, groundbreaking on single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, rose 0.3 percent to 764,000 last month. All regions of the country experienced an increase in single-family Housing Starts, except the Midwest, which had a 14.7 percent drop. Building permits rose 0.7 percent to 1.14 million.
Campaigning for the European Union Referendum vote in Britain, scheduled for June 23, has been put on hold following the death of lawmaker Jo Cox. The mourning period has temporarily quelled some investor anxiety around the “Brexit” vote, allowing for gains in European markets. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index posted its biggest gain in three weeks, while Sterling rebounded from a two-month low.
