Mid-Day Report: Dollar Continues to Recover after Unexpected Rebound in Housing Starts
17 March 2009 @ 11:52 am EDT
Dollar continues to recover in early US session as financial markets are generally lacking clear direction. US stocks flip flip around green and red, paying little reaction to unexpected rebound in new residential construction data from US in Feb. Building permits rose 3.0% to 0.58m annualized rate while housing starts rose strongly by 22.2% to 0.58m annualized rate. PPI moderated to -1.3% yoy while core PPI slowed to 4.0% yoy in Feb. Dollar index is back above 87 level and reaches as high as 87.35 so far. But after all, focus remains on 87.76 resistance for the first indication that correction from 89.62 has completed. Otherwise, risk remains on the downside.