As per the numbers that came out yesterday, the US housing market continued to fall due to the shortages of land and skilled labor. The housing stats dropped in April by 3.7% to seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.287 million units according to the Commerce Department. Building permits fell 1.8%. According to Reuters, constraints imposed by Trumps’ administration in April last year on anti-subsidy duties on imports of Canadian softwood lumber have caused restrains on home sale growth.
On the other hand, the US factory output rose during the last month and expanded by 0.7%. The increase was helped by the 2.3% increase in machinery production. As per the survey of factory managers that was published earlier in May, the manufacturers were complaining about rising commodity prices due to the Trump administration tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. In addition, according to Reuters, recent Fed report that is based on the comments of the central banks’ business contacts across the US did show a raising concern about the tariffs, even though Fed Chairman Powell did state that it is too early to know now the effect the tariffs will have on the US economy.
Yesterday we have seen also the numbers coming up from Canada, where the manufacturing sales increased by 1.4% in March, where the sales were up in 13 out of 21 industries, which represent 72% of the manufacturing sector of Canada. The industries that mostly contributed to the rise were aerospace parts, transportation equipment industries and fabricated metal products.
Today we do not expect any major economic news from the EU zone, where most of the important releases are concentrated in the early Asian session with the employment change and unemployment rate coming from Australia, followed by the New Zealand annual budget release. Investors will also be looking at the US Philly Fed manufacturing index and unemployment claims.
ECONOMIC CALENDAR EVENTS FOR MAY 17th
AUD Employment Change
AUD Unemployment Rate
NZD Annual Budget Release
EUR Italian Trade Balance
CAD Foreign Securities Purchases
USD Philly Fed Manufacturing Index
USD Unemployment Claims
GBP MPC Member Haldane Speaks
