February Housing Starts Exceed Expectations, Import/Export Prices Detailed

February Housing Starts

• 🏠 Housing starts for February came in stronger than expected at 1,151,000 seasonally adjusted annualized units.
• 📈 This figure represents an over 11% jump and is the best number seen since the end of the previous year.

Building Permits

• 🏗️ Building permits also showed strength, with 1,456,000 units issued.
• ⚠️ This number is sequentially down from the previous month's revised figure of 1,473,000.

Import Prices

• 📦 Import prices for February rose by 0.4% month-over-month, exceeding expectations of remaining unchanged.
• 📉 This marks the largest monthly increase in import prices since April of last year.
• 📊 Even excluding petroleum, import prices were up 0.4%, double the expected rate and the highest since April of last year.
• 📈 Year-over-year, import prices were up 2%, also the highest level since December of last year.

Export Prices

• 🌍 Export prices month-over-month increased by 0.1%, contrary to expectations of a 0.1% decrease.
• 📉 Year-over-year, export prices were up 2.1%, a decrease from the previous month's 2.7% rise, which was the highest since December 2022.
• 📉 The recent slowdown and slight decrease in the dollar's value may have influenced these export price movements.