The U.S. dollar is on the back foot after some poor housing data released just moment ago. Housing starts rose to 546k in July, short of expectations for an increase to 560k from 537k the month prior. Building permits, meanwhile declined to 565k from 583k in July, also short is expectations for a 580k level. Released simultaneously, U.S. annual headline producer prices surged to a 4.2% growth rate for July, in line with expectations and faster than the prior 2.8% pickup. Core PPI advanced to a 1.5% growth rate, faster than forecasts for a 1.3% pickup and the prior month’s 1.1% gain. Given that PPI is used to predict CPI, released last week, the markets are focusing on the poor housing data. That being said, USD/PY fell only 8 pips on the announcement to 85.21 while EUR/USD added 23 pips to 1.2890.