A report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday showed a substantial rebound by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of August.
The Commerce Department said housing starts spiked by 9.6 percent to an annual rate of 1.356 million in August after plunging by 3.9 percent to a revised rate of 1.237 million in July.
Economists had expected housing starts to surge by 5.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.310 million from the 1.238 million originally reported for the previous month.
The Commerce Department said building permits also shot up by 4.9 percent to an annual rate of 1.475 million in August after tumbling by 3.3 percent to a revised rate of 1.406 million in July.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to jump by 1.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.410 million from the 1.396 million originally reported for the previous month.
At 10:30 am ET, the Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its report on crude oil inventories in the week ended September 13th.
Crude oil inventories are expected to edge down by 0.1 million barrels after rising by 0.8 million barrels in the previous week.
The Federal Reserve is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision at 2 pm ET, followed by Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference at 2:30 pm ET.