The US housing sector has remained quite upbeat during the economic weakness of the past two years, while other sectors weakened considerably and some fell in contraction. In the first three months of this year, housing starts jumped even higher, but they fell below 1 million during May for the first time in several years, as the lock-downs affected all sectors of the US economy.

They climbed above 1 million in June while today’s report showed an increase to 1.5 million during July. That’s a promising sign for the economic rebound, but the USD went through another weak phase, losing around 50 pips after that report.