December 19, 2023
United States:
US Housing Starts Unexpectedly Rise to a Six-Month High
US new-home construction unexpectedly surged in November to a six-month high, benefiting from a dearth of existing houses on the market and suggesting the crunch in residential real estate is easing.
Residential starts increased 14.8% last month to a 1.56 million annualized rate, government data showed Tuesday. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 1.36 million pace.
Europe:
Russia’s Crude Flows Stay Strong Despite Baltic Port Stoppage
Russia’s seaborne crude exports climbed again on a four-week average basis, despite a dip in weekly flows driven by a brief pause in shipments from the Baltic port of Primorsk.
About 3.28 million barrels a day of crude were shipped from Russian ports in the four weeks to Dec. 17, tanker-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg show. That was up by 80,000 barrels a day from the revised figure for the period to Dec. 10. The more volatile weekly average gave up about two-thirds of the previous week’s increase, with a four-day gap in loading schedules at Primorsk suggesting planned work affecting the port.
Asia:
BOJ Keeps Traders Guessing on Negative Rate as Yen Rally Stalls
Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda kept investors in the dark on when he’ll call time on the world’s last negative interest rate, following a stand-pat policy decision that pared some of the yen’s recent gains.
Ueda appeared determined to keep his options open at a press briefing after the central bank’s two-day meeting. He didn’t rule out policy normalization at any of the gatherings in coming months, while insisting he first needs to see more evidence that the BOJ will achieve its price stability target.
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