Economic Data Comes In Better Than Expected, Futures Off Lows

There was a slew of economic data just released, and like the rest of the data we've seen recently, it was nothing to write home about, but it was better than expected. Initial jobless claims for the week ending June 11 came in at 414,000, versus expectations of 421,000. Last week was revised up to 430,000. Continuing claims came in at 3.675 million, versus expectations of 3.69 million. Housing starts for May came in at 560,00, versus expectations of 540,000, a rise of 3.5% May building permits were also released, and they came in at 612,000, versus expectations of 548,000. This is a rise of 9%. Futures are moving higher on the release of the data. Dow futures are down 32 points, NASDAQ futures are down 3 points, and S&P 500 futures are off 2 points.