U.S. housing starts rose in May, but fell shy of expectations, while a report on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits edged higher.
May housing starts increased 0.2 percent to a 2.009 million unit rate from a downwardly revised 2.005 million unit pace in April, the U.S. Commerce Department said. Economists had expected housing starts to increase 0.5 percent in May to a 2.048 million unit rate.
And a Labor Department report showed jobless claims rose by 1,000 to 333,000 in the week ended June 11. Wall Street had expected claims to hold steady.
